Eye of the Beholder
by KinHiromi
Summary: Can you? Can you accept who you are? Can you look at yourself in the mirror and be happy with what you see? Can you finally accept who you are? Is that something you can do? For me? AoKuro. Rated T for reasons.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Eye of the Beholder

Anime: Kuroko no Basuke/Kuroko's Basketball

Summary: Can you? Can you accept who you are? Can you look at yourself in the mirror and be happy with what you see? Can you finally accept who you are? Is that something you can do? For me?

Three-shots.

Pairing: Aomine/Kuroko.

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Language.

Final Word Count: 23,800

* * *

><p><em>"Can you? Can you accept who you are? Can you look at yourself in the mirror and be happy with what you see? Can you finally accept who you are? Is that something you can do? For me?"<em>

"I don't know."

With an exaggerated groan, the teacher at the front of the room pointed at the guy who had answered. "How can you tell me you don't know? This is review! You should know this! Why don't you know the answer to this?"

The guy hit his hands on his desk. "I just don't, okay? I don't know! I don't know the answer to this stupid math question, alright? Maybe instead of looking to us to do your job, you should know the answer beforehand!"

The classroom became deadly quiet. The color rose on the guy's face as he realized what he'd said; it mirrored the color on his math teacher's face.

"Come up here."

The classroom erupted with a low chorus of "ooh" as the boy stepped into the walkway and trudged his way to the front of the room, the heavy soles of his shoes beating a slow death march on the tile. The teacher pulled a skinny rod out of his desk and tapped it against his palm.

"Hands out."

The boy held his hands out, palms down, and waited. After a beat, the skinny rod came down and cracked against his knuckles, sending stinging vines of pain rushing into the boy's brain, signaling for him to cry out. But he held it down and received one more smack with the rod before being sent back to his seat, his knuckles bright red and swollen where the rod had come down.

"I hope that taught you something about respect, Aomine. Now, can someone who is not being disrespectful answer this question?"

A few people around the guy raised their hands as the boy bit his lip and quietly pulled a pair of finger-less gloves out of his pocket and pulled them over his hands, hiding the swiftly bruising flesh.

-xxx-

"I see you have your gloves on, Dai-chan."

The boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat and hid his hands between his thighs. "It's nothing."

"Would you like to tell me what happened?"

Aomine Daiki often visited the counselor's office at his high school. It was the one place where he didn't feel incredible amounts of stress and pressure, where he could just relax and not be judged. And he really like the counselor, she had a beautiful, slender body, huge breasts – which Aomine adored so much and she was a cheerful woman, Satsuki Momoi.

"I said, it was nothing."

"Teachers don't just hit students without a reason, Dai-chan. What happened? You know whatever you say to me is completely confidential. Unless he did just hit you for no reason, then you know I have to say something."

Aomine sighed and looked down at his shoes. They were black leather Creepers with three inch soles; they'd gotten him in trouble until teachers had finally given up on reporting them. "I… mouthed off to my math teacher."

"Oh? What happened?"

Aomine shifted and tapped his knees. "He asked me to answer a question and I didn't know the answer and it was stressing me out because he was pressuring me to remember and I couldn't remember the math in the question and I told him to stop making students do his job. So he punished me."

Momoi sighed and tapped her pen against her pad of paper. "I wish I could say you didn't deserve the punishment. Perhaps he was too harsh on you, but you did need to be punished for your disrespect. But I thought all your teachers had been sent a reminder about your condition, and how to go about handling it."

"Apparently, no one gave a shit."

"Language, Dai-chan."

Aomine sighed again and flicked his hair, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, just please try and keep it in mind next time."

"I can't keep anything in my mind, apparently."

Momoi tapped her pen on her pad of paper again, then hummed. "Tell you what, Dai-chan. You seem a little flustered. I'll call your next teacher and tell them you're with me, then write you a hall pass so you can walk around and clear your head until the next period. Does that sound okay with you?"

Aomine nodded halfheartedly. "Yeah, I guess a walk would be okay."

"Alright, then," the counselor said, reaching into her desk and scribbling down his name on a hall pass. "Here, take this and just walk about. But don't skip all day, just the next class. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Aomine said quietly, hitching up his backpack and leaving the room as the counselor picked up her phone. The thick soles of his Creepers thudded and echoed in the empty hallway as he trudged about aimlessly, hoping to find some sudden clarity in his life, thereby solving all his problems. But as he walked and wandered, he found nothing of the sort.

Instead, his feet took him down the hallways and stairs until he was facing the expansive trophy cabinet of the sports teams. He stood in front of the glass and stared, his eyeliner-smeared eyes traveling down the names and pictures until he came across the varsity basketball team of the year before. In the group picture stood a student much like him: tall, broad-shouldered, with friendly eyes, casual smirk and long legs. They were practically the same person. But they weren't. They weren't the same person. They couldn't be any more polar opposite. This person in the photograph was the person Aomine longed to be. This person was handsome, popular, athletic, out-going, well-liked, and all around a good guy. He was everything Aomine was not. Aomine ached deep inside with jealousy of this person.

Out of anger and frustration, Aomine slapped his hand to the glass and grunted angrily, unable to make any more of a coherent noise. He dragged his fingers down the glass, leaving smudgy fingerprints in his line of vision, blocking the names of the players on the basketball team. Casting one last angry glance at the basketball star he envied, he hitched his backpack up and traveled farther down the hallway, his heart overflowing with hurt, the words of the plaque burned into his mind.

2014 MVP – Power Forward, Aomine Daiki, Sophomore.

-xxx-

Aomine hoped that a snack would make him feel better. Fishing through his pockets for some change, he came up with some money for the vending machine. He looked over the selection, counted his change again to be sure, then stuck his money into the machine. Once the last coin was in, he pressed the buttons for the snack he wanted.

Nothing happened. Perplexed, Aomine pressed the buttons again. And, again, nothing happened. Confused, Aomine looked over at the display screen; on it was the message _Make a different selection_. So he did, punching in another set of numbers. This time, when he did it, the screen said _Make a different selection again_, then quickly changed to _Have a nice day_.

Scoffing, Aomine pressed the return coin button, hoping to get his money back. When it didn't, he yelled angrily and kicked the machine.

"Stupid fucking vending machine, of course it's me you had to break for, right? No one else would have done, it had to have been me! Give me back my fucking money!"

The machine sat noiselessly. Angry and frustrated that it had taken his money, Aomine shouted more abuse at it, pointlessly kicking it, as if to make it suddenly give him back his money or vend his food. When it did neither of these things, Aomine snarled, pulled his fist back, and sent it straight at the glass.

It was solid, obviously meant to protect against such assaults. But it wasn't enough to hinder all the damage, and from the dark teen's fist, a spider web system of cracks appeared in the glass. It took Aomine two seconds of heavy breathing to look at what he'd done and start panicking.

Stumbling back away from the machine, Aomine looked both ways down the hallway and started running, fearful that someone would come looking at what the noise was. He was so angry at himself for losing his carefully controlled temper, especially over something as stupid as a vending machine. He couldn't believe that he was so out of control that a simple vending machine had tipped him over his boiling point.

Lost in his self-loathing and in a hurry to not get caught, Aomine didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, which adequately explained why he turned a corner and slammed right into a stationary body. Aomine would have stayed upright, but his momentum sent the body he hit falling, and with strangely fast reflexes, the body reached out and managed to get a grip on the lapels of Aomine's school uniform as he was sent backwards and they both went towards the floor, landing in an awkward heap on the cold, white tiles.

Embarrassed and irritated, Aomine immediately rolled away from the person and got up, dusting himself off. "Sorry. Didn't see you."

"What a coincidence, I didn't see you, either."

Though still very upset with himself, Aomine could remember some manners. Gruffly, the dark teen extended a hand to the person. "Here, let me help you up."

The person on the floor did not take his hand. At least, not immediately.

With a hum, the boy slouched. "Can you say something again?"

Aomine paused. "Um…"

"Perfect," the boy said happily, looking straight at the dark teen and reaching out for his hand, missing on the first grab but getting it on the second. Aomine hoisted him up until he was on his feet, the guy was much shorter, than he thought. Well it wasn't surprising, he was a basketball player after all.

"Thanks for the lift. Um, if you don't mind me asking for another favor, did you see at all where my cane went?"

Aomine was quiet for a moment. "Your cane?"

The boy nodded. "My walking cane. Should be white and red? Not that I can tell. But I dropped it, and I'm a little disadvantaged here."

It took the dark all of ten seconds to realize that the kid was talking about the fact, that he was blind. Feeling like an idiot, he scanned the ground and found the skinny white and red cane the boy needed. He picked it up and placed it into the boy's waiting, outstretched hand.

"Ah, much better, thanks." The guy seemed to stiffen a little, "You're not hurt, are you? We hit kind of hard. I'd feel horrible if you got hurt because of me."

"No, I'm fine. You?"

"I am fine, either. Thank you for your concern. So, I will see you around. Or, I will not."

Aomine stepped aside so the boy could walk by, his cane gently swishing along the path in front of him. His step was lively, and he hummed as he walked.

Aomine watched him leave, then continued on his way, making sure he stepped in the middle of each tile as he walked.

-xxx-

"How was school today, Daiki?"

With an uncomfortable shift, Aomine cleared his throat and poked at his dinner. "Oh, well, you know. It was school."

"Have you been improving your grades at all?"

Aomine's stomach twisted. "I don't think so."

With a sigh, the dark teen's mother looked at her son. "I just don't understand, sweetie. Your grades used to be so good."

"It's just hard now, Mom. I try, but it just doesn't work."

"Well, dear, perhaps… perhaps it would be best if we took you out of a regular high school."

Aomine blinked a few times, trying to process what his mother had suggested. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Well, son," Aomine's father interjected, lacing his fingers together. "Your mother and I have been discussing the possibility of pulling you out of a normal high school and enrolling you in a school better suited for you."

Aomine looked between his parents. He had no idea what they meant. "What… what kind of high school would I be going to? All boys, or something? I'm not distracted by skirts or anything like that. I mean, I'm passing, at least."

"But you're not excelling like you used to, dear. And well, we were thinking…"

"What? You were thinking what?"

Slowly, Aomine's mother took in a deep breath and reached out to grab her husband's hand.

"We were looking into the possibility of a special needs school for you."

The dark teen's chopsticks fell from his grip. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "A special needs school? I don't understand!"

"We think it would benefit you! There would be someone there at all times to make sure you understand and succeed, and we believe the one-on-one would do wonders for you."

"B-but… but I… I'm passing," Aomine said quietly, staring at his kimchi, like it would provide him with some explanation.

"We know you are, son. But your grades are very base passing, and you would get better grades in a place like this."

Aomine didn't say anything for a long time. His parents waited for his response. When it was clear they were going to say nothing else, Aomine pushed himself away from the table and stood up slowly, walking towards the door.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Aomine mumbled, walking towards the door.

"Sweetie, where are you going?"

"I'm just going for a walk," he said quietly, putting on his shoes and grabbing his house keys. "You can wrap up my dinner if you want. I won't be out too late."

Aomine walked out the door, closing it gently behind him. His parents looked at each other and sighed, wondering if they'd presented the idea correctly.

-xxx-

"Whenever you want to see me this late, I always get really concerned. Whenever you tell me to bring my equipment, I get extra concerned. What happened?"

Aomine sighed. He was lying on a chair with his shirt off, his arm over his eyes as his friend eyed his ribs. "I just… I felt like seeing you and getting something done, is all. Why is it that whenever I ask you how much something will be, you say it's free?"

"Because you let me practice on you, so it's no charge," Kise said, snapping on a pair of black latex gloves and preparing Aomine's ribs for a tattoo. "And you don't care at all how they look."

"I have no reason to care, everything you've ever done on me looks amazing. You have a gift."

"Tell me something I don't know," Kise replied, placing the stencil on the dark teen's skin. "How'd the nose heal, by the way?"

Aomine scrunched his nose; he'd impulsively gotten his septum pierced some months before.

"It's okay. I don't think I ever want to change the jewelry in it. Sometimes I forget I have it, though. I flip it up when I'm at school or at home."

"So, basically, I'm the only one who ever gets to see it," Kise said, peeling the stencil off of Aomine's skin, leaving the ink outline behind.

"You should be honored."

"I'm screaming from joy on the inside."

Aomine chuckled. Ryouta Kise, known by his impressive body figure and face, who is quite popular with ladies, had once gone to school with Aomine, but after his refusal to stick to the dress code or show up to class got him expelled, he decided to take his love for art further by becoming a tattoo and piercing apprentice. The dark teen was more than happy to be Kise's client, allowing the blonde to practice his techniques on his body; the amount of amazing tattoos and piercings Aomine had gotten that stayed looking amazing was a testament to just how good Kise was. Kise also was a very astute listener, and gave wonderful advice.

"Do you think you're ever going to look back at these tattoos and think 'why the hell did I tattoo a dragon on my ribs?' Or are you still going to like it?" Kise asked, testing his tattoo needle once before scooting close to the dark teen and starting the needle, beginning the line work on his ribs.

Aomine grimaced and made a little noise of discomfort. "Wow, this hurts a lot more than the one on my shoulders did."

"Gee, I wonder why."

"And to answer you, no, I don't think I'll regret it. I like the design, you did an amazing job with it, and your tattoos are quality."

"But you put no thought into it. You just kind of give me the general idea and just let me tattoo it, and you don't even care." Kise wiped away the blood on Aomine's skin. "And you exploit the fact that I know Russian whenever you ask for something written in it. I could be writing 'I have a sounding fetish' on you and you would have no idea."

"I like the idea of sounding," Aomine said thoughtfully. "It's an interesting concept. It would probably be weird at first but you'd grow to love it. Like anal, you know? It could be super fucked up but at the end you'd be like, okay, I'd do that again."

"I can't decide whether to love you or hate you for that comparison," Kise said, his eyes locked on the skin in front of him. Some time passed as the blonde concentrated on the lines, making sure to keep them perfect, and Aomine welcomed the silence. When Kise was nearly done with the outline, he spoke again. "So, tell me: what made you wanna get this tattoo? Something big must have happened; only the really big occurrences get ink."

"Nothing really big happened."

Kise took this for an acceptable answer and kept working. The dark teen was quiet for a long moment; the buzz of the tattoo needle became the stand in for the crickets. Noticing how quiet his usually chatterbox his friend was, the blonde took the needle away from his skin so he could stare at Aomine.

"Are you sure nothing happened?"

With a sigh, Aomine confessed. "My parents asked me if I'd want to go to a special needs school, because I'm apparently too stupid for normal school."

Kise grimaced and put the needle back to Aomine's skin. "Ooh, that's rough. What exactly happened?"

Aomine rubbed his face. "I don't even know. We were eating dinner and they asked me about my grades and then when I said they hadn't really gotten better, they said they'd been looking into schools like that for me."

"Wow."

"Right?" Aomine sighed. "And I just… I don't know. I kind of started to feel worthless. And then I came to see you."

Kise's response was silence. After an uncomfortably quiet amount of time, Aomine looked at his friend. "Was I wrong to just leave? I managed to not get angry, I kept my temper in check, should I have stayed?"

With a sigh, the Kise made a face. "It's not my place to say. I don't know the situation enough. But I do know that when you start dwelling on something and stay in a situation, you tend to get angry and let your temper run away with you. So it is pretty good that you left. It's good that you come to me instead of letting your emotions out in an unhealthy manner."

Aomine smiled. "My mom liked my eyebrow piercing."

"Did she?"

"She said it made my face, whatever that means. She also said you did a good job."

The blonde beamed white light at the comment. "Tell her I do ears as well, if she'd like to get a second hole in them or something. With either the gun or the needle."

Aomine pointed at Kise's shoulder with his free hand. "I see some letters there. Did you get a new one done?"

"Oh, yeah, I did," Kise said, shrugging a few times so the strap of his baggy tank top fell further down his arm. "I drew it up, but had a friend do it for me. I made sure he wrote the letters right."

"What does it say?"

"It goes across my collarbones. From one side to the other, it says 'I want to be a person I'm not ashamed to be.'"

"Are you the person you're not ashamed to be?"

Kise laughed. "Of course! I'm unburdened by useless academics, learning a trade I've always wanted to learn, covering my body and everyone else's body in art, worshiping myself as a spiritual temple draped in decoration, and I have sex a lot. I love who I am."

"I'm glad you've found your way and are happy the way you are. I've always wanted that for you, because you always doodled in math class."

Kise smiled, switching needles so he could begin shading. "What color do you want this?"

"Surprise me."

Effortlessly, the blonde dipped his needle in a pot of red ink and began shading in Aomine's dragon tattoo, wiping away the ink and blood a little more often. "So, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you a person you're not ashamed to be?"

The dark teen snorted. "I'm ashamed of everything about me. Especially my decision to get a body modification every time I'm stressed out."

"Hey, you'll keep me in business for the rest of my life. I can't complain about that." Kise dipped into the ink again. "Do you ever think you'll be unashamed to be who you are?"

Aomine didn't answer, and Kise did not press. He simply finished the tattoo in silence, the buzzing of the needles having a one-sided conversation with both of them. When the blonde finished, he wiped it down one last time, ridding Aomine's skin of any excess blood and ink and giving it a welcomed layer of something to help it heal. Kise pulled off his gloves and put his equipment away as Aomine stood up to go look at his tattoo in the mirror. He examined it carefully, his skin still tingling with the leftover sensation of the tattoo needle, impressed by the way the new dragon on his skin seemed to move, even while staying completely still.

"If I ever try and get a tattoo done by anyone else, hold me down and tattoo my balls or something."

"Done and done," Kise said, dusting off his pants.

"How much do I owe you?"

"Why do you ask me that every single time when you know every single time I will tell you it's free? I even told you when we started!"

Aomine shrugged as Kise walked over to tape protective plastic over the freshly inked skin on the dark teen's torso. "I always have to make sure. Don't wanna be an asshole."

"And who says chivalry is dead?"

Kise taped up the tattoo and gave Aomine the standard run down of how to keep it up, keep it from getting infected, and to not scratch at it like an idiot. Aomine nodded and replaced his shirt, already feeling a little sad by the loss of pain from the needle.

"So, listen here, Aominecchi, next time you call me, it should be for something good, like you just wanting to see me, instead of body modification. We'll have lunch or something."

"And then you'll pierce me?"

Kise smiled and lifted up his shirt, showing off a flash of silver on his chest. "Only if I get to do this to you."

Aomine stared at the barbell through the blonde's nipple and hummed. "I'll think about it. Might be sexy."

"Totally is. If you have sex with one in, make someone kind of tug on it with their mouth. You would not believe the sensation."

With a chuckle, Aomine nodded. "Okay, I will definitely put it into consideration."

There was a brief moment of silence, then Kise reached over and pulled the dark teen into a hug. "Try to keep your chin up, okay? You're a good friend, I hate to see you so down. It'll be okay."

"Thanks, Kise."

They said their goodbyes and Aomine took off, resisting the urge to touch his new tattoo. Kise watched him leave, then sighed and shook his head, feeling immensely sad on his dark-skinned friend's behalf.

-xxx-

It was two days later at school when Aomine found himself back in the counselor's office, thankfully without fresh bruises from a teacher's rod this time. He'd gotten into an argument with another student over his septum piercing, which he'd let see the light of day because his school day had ended, and he'd ended up losing the careful control he tried to keep over his temper and swearing darkly at the student; a teacher overheard and sent him to the counselor.

He relayed the story to her, but when he was done, she did not say what he expected her to say.

"Dai-chan, I think you're using me as a crutch."

His eyes went wide. "And how exactly am I doing that?"

Momoi shrugged. "You never tell me exactly what's bothering you when you come in, but you always tell me the situation that has just happened, and then expect advice. There's only so much I can do with the information you give me, and I believe it's partially because you don't trust me."

Aomine gawked at her. "You… you don't think I trust you? I tell you everything! You're the only one that listens!"

"I don't think you are telling me everything, Dai-chan. I think you're telling me the things that you would tell to anyone, but are afraid I won't keep your secrets if you share them. I believe you feel that if you divulge with me, I will tell someone else and it will get back to you in a way you don't like, or you think I'll tell your parents."

Aomine opened his mouth to protest, then slowly closed it and slumped in his seat. "You're wrong."

"No, you see, Dai-chan, I know I'm right. And that's the problem, that's why these things still happen. You're keeping it all bottled up, therefore I can't help you. What I think would benefit you would be having a friend."

"And you're just going to pull one out of your pocket for me, right?"

"What I had planned—"

There was a soft knock on the door and a head poked inside. "I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting?"

Momoi waved the person in. "No, no, I was actually about to get to you. Come right on in, Tetsu-kun."

Aomine gestured to the door, his temper flaring. "You just answered your own question! How am I supposed to tell you things if you bring people in here while we're talking?"

"This was actually the solution I was going to present to you, Dai-chan. I think you need a friend, someone your own age you can confide in. That's where he comes in."

The boy smiled. "I, ah… I think we've met before, actually. I know the voice."

The dark teen pointed, instantly recognizing the kid's dorky light blue hair, which without touching, Aomine knew was soft. "You're the kid I ran into the other day!"

"Dai-chan, this is Kuroko Tetsuya. Tetsu-kun, this is Aomine Daiki. Now, Dai-chan, I see Tetsu-kun quite a lot in here, and he's very pleasant. I think you two would really hit it off if you spent some time together and became friends. Tetsu-kun could use someone to pal around with, and you could use a confidante. I believe you two could really strike up an excellent friendship if you tried."

"Is this like a blind date, but for friendship? Oh, er…" Aomine glanced down at Kuroko's walking stick, the same as when he'd seen it last. "Sorry."

"I didn't see that coming." Kuroko said, lightly smiling at his own joke. "Don't worry about it, no offense taken."

Aomine turned his attention back to the counselor. "Look, I don't know what you're hoping to accomplish with this, but I really don't need you to give me a friend. I'm not that pathetic."

"No one said you were pathetic," Momoi said softly, trying not to rile the dark teen up. "If you're not going to do this for you, then do it for me, please. Just give him a chance."

"I come with some sweet accessories," Kuroko said happily, his smile still splitting his face.

Aomine was glad he was blind, because then he couldn't see him glaring at him.

"Fine. Whatever. I don't care. Just know, that I think this is stupid and pointless."

He picked up his backpack and hitched it over his shoulder, making for the door. He looked over his shoulder at the bluenette.

"Well, if you're going to follow me around, let's get this over with," he said irritably, gesturing pointlessly with a jerk of his head. Kuroko walked around the counselor's chair and headed for the door, his stick extended. He stopped just short of Aomine, his smile no longer so large but still present on his face.

"I do hope you two find each other's company enjoyable!" Momoi called after them, making Aomine roll his eyes.

They walked off the campus, the incessant tapping of Kuroko's cane driving the dark teen crazy. He finally stopped them on the sidewalk and held Kuroko by the shoulders.

"For the love of Christ, is there a way you can do that without your fucking stick making so much noise?"

The bluenette shrugged. "No, I am sorry. It helps."

Aomine squinted and tried to look past Kuroko's dark sunglasses. When he couldn't see anything, he finally stopped. "Whatever. Look, kid, I don't want to be some charity case and I don't want you heaped upon me. I'm going to go home and so are you. I have friends, I don't need you. Now, go away."

Kuroko made shocked little noise, and Aomine was sure by the way his eyebrows shot up that his eyes were pointlessly wide. Turning on his heel, Aomine hitched his backpack up and began walking down the sidewalk, his feet stomping the pavement as he got as far away from Kuroko as possible.

The entire situation frustrated him beyond belief. He didn't need someone to give him a friend.

He wasn't so pathetic that he needed intervention from snobby counselors who didn't really understand.

With tears pricking in his eyes and his heart full of displaced anger and hurt, Aomine walked on.

-xxx-

Aomine sat in the lunchroom the next day, trying desperately to not itch his new tattoo while he picked at his food and scrolled around his phone, ignoring everyone around him. He'd been sitting by himself for a good portion of it before someone sat down across from him. When he glanced up, his eyes went wide.

"Hey, Mine-chin~"

"H-hey, Murasakibara," Aomine said, surprised. Murasakibara Atsushi was a 208 centimeters tall, old basketball player and a friend Aomine remembered having, someone he'd been friends with for a while, but they'd drifted since Murasakibara had graduated. It was because he had graduated, that the dark teen was mostly shocked to see him sitting there.

"I see you have some new accessories," Murasakibara noted, taking a bite of the chips and eying the metal rings on Aomine's face.

"Yeah, uh… I like them. They're kind of fitting."

Aomine could almost hear Murasakibara avoiding the topic of the black eyeliner spread around his eyes. Choosing to not bring up the avoidance, Aomine went on. "So, uh… what are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. They asked me to start the Singing Club up again. Apparently, it died with me, and they wanted it back. I'm here just setting stuff up right now."

Aomine raised an eyebrow. "So they just asked you back? And you decided to seek me out?"

"Of course, you're one of my friends."

With an unconvinced raise of the eyebrow, Aomine crossed his arms.

It took the giant three seconds to sigh. "Also, the counselor, Sa-chin asked me to come see you."

Aomine felt a thick wave of self-pity; of course Murasakibara hadn't just sought him out on his own.

"Oh."

"Look, Mine-chin," Murasakibara said gently. "I know it's not just her worried. The group of people we used to hang out with? I talked to them, and they said they haven't actually talked to you in months. Everyone says you're totally inverted now, and not in a good way. I know that some of this can't be helped, but maybe you should try and make it how it used to be a little."

Aomine glared at his old friend. "You want me to try? You want me to go out of my way to associate with the people who haven't given me the time of day in months? So they told you haven't been around, huh? Did they also tell you that they talk about me behind my back? Snicker at me in class? That I tried already and they pushed me out because I changed? I made the effort. And I got spat on."

Murasakibara said nothing. Aomine gathered up his things, not bothering to throw his food away.

"Keep your nose out of my business, Murasakibara. Times are different. It isn't all happy-go-lucky group anymore."

Aomine made to leave, but Murasakibara stood up and caught him by the arm. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. I know I don't know everything that's happened but I thought you should know my feelings towards you are exactly the same as they were. I still consider you a close friend and I'd like to stay in your life, if you'd let me. I'll be around here a lot more, now that I'm helping out, and I want to see more of you. But you have to meet me halfway, Mine-chin. I don't think the things they do. Will you please let me in? For old time's sake, at least?"

With a frustrated sigh, Aomine pulled his arm from the purple haired giant's grasp. "I guess. I'm sorry. I do still want you as a friend."

"Here, we need to catch up. Come to the music room after class and we'll talk and hang out. I'll bring snacks. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good. See you then."

Aomine departed without another word, leaving Murasakibara in the lunchroom.

-xxx-

Silently, Aomine endured the rest of his day. He managed to not get yelled at and he managed to keep his simmering temper in check, and, true to his word, he trudged to the music room after school to hang out with Murasakibara. When he pushed open the doors, he almost walked right back out again, a frown coloring his features darkly.

"So, yeah, I'll send the lyrics home with you, and you can do your little word thing with it. That's super neat, I'd like to learn braille one day," Murasakibara said enthusiastically, holding out a folder for a skinny boy with thick sunglasses and soft blue hair to take. Aomine decided, that he was to be plagued with bad luck.

"Hey, Mine-chin, you're finally here. This is Kuro-chin, one of my first recruits for the club~" Murasakibara said happily, gesturing to the blind boy. Aomine scowled.

"I know who Tetsu is."

"Really?" Murasakibara seemed absolutely delighted by this. "Well, I think, it'd be okay if Kuroko stuck around and hung out with us! What do you think?"

"No," Aomine said fiercely, setting his bag down on the ground. When neither Murasakibara nor Kuroko said anything, the dark teen breathed in deeply through his nose. "I would rather him not be around, if you don't mind."

Murasakibara held his hands out. "Oh, come on! Kuro-chin's pretty cool, you'll like him!"

"Did you not just hear me?" Aomine asked, hurt rather than angry.  
>"Murasakibara-kun, it's okay, I don't want to intrude," Kuroko said gently, gripping his cane loosely. "I can see you guys had a one-on-one thing planned, and I don't want to be the annoying third-wheel. Besides, I have something else I need to do this afternoon."<p>

Murasakibara clicked his tongue and shrugged. "Alright, if you have other plans. I guess I'll see you later then. Remember, practice your pitch, and make sure to use your diaphragm~"

Kuroko nodded and headed for the door. The idea to stick his foot out and trip the blind boy crossed Aomine's mind, but even he wasn't so harsh, especially without actual provocation. With his cane incessantly tapping, the bluenette left the room, humming to himself. When the door shut, Murasakibara put his hands on his hips.

"Well, that was very unlike you, Mine-chin," Murasakibara said in a tone much more befitting a mother than a friend.

"I'm very unlike me," Aomine replied honestly, reaching up to pull his septum piercing down out of his nose, allowing him to breathe properly. "In case you hadn't noticed."

"I really hope it has nothing to do with his blindness, because I'd probably have to shake you by the shoulders if it was. Cool nose ring."

"No, it's not that. I could care less about that. It's just…" Aomine trailed off, unsure about giving Murasakibara the truth. "I just wanted to catch up with you, alone. Like we used to."

Murasakibara seemed to accept the line as fact and prodded no further. He pulled out some snacks from his bag and they divvied them up equally, eating quietly before engaging actual conversation.

When the sound of plastic bags rustling became too suffocating, the dark teen decided to open up a topic. "So, what do you have planned for the club this year?"

This seemed to excite Murasakibara beyond belief. Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped into his plan of finding out everyone's strengths, then placing them together in and a capella group, because he'd just watched the movie Pitch Perfect and he liked the idea. Aomine listened attentively and found himself enjoying Murasakibara's company and excited babbling, but his mind kept going back to Kuroko and how frustrating it was going to be to see him here if Murasakibara asked him to hang out again.

They carried on with their time together before the dark teen noted it was getting late and he needed to head home. Murasakibara agreed, and they parted ways, Aomine politely refusing Murasakibara's offer to drive him home. He walked the sidewalks steadily, keeping his thoughts clear, hoping to be calm once in the house, and the moment he set foot in his door, his parents are all over him.

"Where have you been?" his mother asked anxiously.

"Lost track of time," Aomine said briskly, running a hand through his hair. "I was with a friend."

"And just who is this friend you were with?" his father tacked on, raising an eyebrow.

"I met up with Murasakibara, we were catching up."

It was the look on his father's face that made Aomine feel horrible. It was a look of rapturous delight, like he'd been waiting on this for years. "Oh, did you? That's wonderful!"

"It's so good to see you talking to old friends," his mother added happily, smiling and holding her hands together. "Could this perhaps be a step in the right direction?"

"I guess," Aomine mumbled, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

"I think it's wonderful that you're making this change," his father said, absolutely beaming. "I can see that soon, it's going to be like this whole situation never happened! Everything will be right as rain, you'll see."

Aomine's stomach plunged to his feet. He hadn't even considered that his parents were still hoping for a reversal, despite the fact that it had been proved that there was no changing what had been done. It made Aomine feel like an utter waste; how was he supposed to make his parents proud if everything he was not welcome, and everything he had been was being begged to come back?

"I guess," Aomine said again, his eyes pricking with tears. "I have a lot of homework, excuse me."

He quickly went to his room, avoiding his parents' gazes, his backpack suddenly filled with lead and his legs jelly as he moved shakily, his entire body cold with the chill of disappointment.

-xxx-

It was another week before the dark teen went to see Murasakibara again. He'd been reclusive in that time, keeping to himself and trying not to let his minor depressive state get the better of him. He decided that seeing Murasakibara would make him feel better, so he waited outside the music room for the club to finish, sat quietly on the floor with his eyes glued to a comic book. He was halfway done with the comic when a voice spoke.

"Aomine-kun?"

With a start, Aomine looked up from the comic book. His mood dropped and his expression soured when he saw that it was Kuroko standing there, back straight.

"What do you want?"

Kuroko knelt down in front of the dark teen so they were eye-level, his balance impeccable. Aomine made a displeased face and sighed loudly.

"Aomine-kun, I know the way that we were sort of put together as friends isn't exactly ideal and I know you probably hate me for it but I really do think that we could benefit from each other."

"You make it sound like a mob deal or some shit."

The bluenette softly chuckled. "I'm not trying to, trust me. But, honestly, whether we'd been put together or not, I still do really want to be your friend."

There was a long pause as Aomine thought. "You want to be my friend."

"Very much!" Kuroko said happily. "I can't see, so I rely on what people say and do to help me out. And, well, you're the only person so far who has never coddled me or treated me like some disease because I can't see. I appreciate it, and I'd like to get to know you a little better."

"Why can't you just be happy knowing that I won't treat you differently?" Aomine asked, his shoulders slumping.

"Why can't you just accept that I want to be your friend?" Kuroko rebutted.

The dark teen frowned. Kuroko was horribly persistent; Aomine had the feeling that even if he built a cage to keep the bluenette away from him, he'd still come around. It was maddening, like having a fly buzzing around his ears. But he knew that sometimes, it was easier to give into persistence.

"Fine, fuck. What do you even want from me? Do I need to make you a friendship bracelet or something?"

Kuroko smiled shook his head. "How about we go get vanilla shake or something? I'll buy."

"Whatever. When do you want to go?"

Kuroko stood up quickly, a smile spreading on his face. "I'm free right now."

Aomine looked up at the boy, then groaned. "Fucking Christ. Let me tell Murasakibara we're not going to hang out, give me a second."

Kuroko waited patiently as the dark teen hauled himself up and stuck his head into the music room, whistling once to get his friend's attention.

"I'm taking your advice, asshole. Going to get vanilla shake with Tetsu."

Murasakibara chuckled at the manly drink, Aomine was going to get and gave him a solid thumbs up followed by a happy nod. Aomine rolled his eyes and closed the door, hiking up his backpack and jerking his head.

"I know a good place that doesn't stare at people. Come on, follow me."

"Yes." Kuroko said, following Aomine dutifully. The tapping of his cane was irritating as all hell and Aomine wished he could just pick the thing up and throw it across the hall.

-xxx-

Finally, they decided to go to the coffee shop, which was Aomine's.

The coffee shop they visited was a favorite haunt of Aomine's. They paid his odd appearance no mind and let him sit and loiter for as long as he liked after he was done with his drink. The only thing they stared at was Kuroko; Aomine was sure it was because they'd never seen anyone with him before.

They ordered their drinks and sat down at a table, Kuroko's back incredibly straight in contrast to Aomine's slouched posture. The barista brought them their drinks as the bluenette carefully sorted his change according to size and denomination.

"Would you mind telling me which one of these is a 1000 won and which one is 5000?" Kuroko asked, pressing the bills across the table. Aomine had half a mind to mess with Kuroko, to tell him all the wrong things, but he pushed the urge down deep, pushing the 1000 won bill back to the bluenette.

"That's 1000."

Kuroko nodded and grabbed it from the table, folding it long ways before sliding it into his wallet. He grabbed the other bill. "Then this is the 5000?"

"Yeah."

He folded that one vertically and stuck it into his wallet. The coins were put into a smaller coin purse, then everything was put back into his bag. Aomine sipped his coffee, black with one sugar, and stared with mild interest.

"What was all that for?"

"It helps so I know what bill I'm using. Since money feels the same, mostly, it helps me keep track of these things. It's pretty convenient. I would hate to be that blind person that just short-changes everyone, or hands out huge bills when my total is 600 won."

Aomine said nothing after that. Kuroko also lapsed into silence, sipping his tea slowly. The way he behaved was very eerie to the dark teen; he stayed stock-still, his back straight as an arrow, and when he went to drink, the only thing that moved where his arms. He was very mechanical and made very little unnecessary movement; it was like he was some strange automaton robot in a b-rate horror movie. And the worst part was, Aomine couldn't stop watching him.

After several sips of tea, Kuroko broke their silence. "I apologize if I come on a little strong."

"You haven't said a word."

"No, no, you misunderstand me," Kuroko said gently, running the pad of his finger around the rim of his cup. "I was thinking about it, and I must have come off a bit too eager to befriend you. I didn't mean to sound clingy or desperate in order to obtain your friendship; I just liked the idea of having a new friend."

"Why do you even want to be my friend so badly? What could possibly appeal to you about me?"

Kuroko hummed. "Momoi-san speaks of you often when I visit her. She likes you and she talks about your time together. She doesn't tell me anything you've told her in confidence, I promise. She just tells me about the things everyone sees. And stuff some people don't. I liked you before I even met you, if that makes sense."

Aomine snorted. "Yeah, I'm a total catch, anyone would be lucky to have me as a friend."

"They really would, Aomine-kun. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit."

"I've been nothing but rude to you! I don't understand this whole celebrity obsession you have with me. What did I do to you personally that made you want me in your circle of friends?"

"You treated me like a person."

The simple sentence stunned the dark teen back into silence. Kuroko cleared his throat awkwardly and tilted his head down, trying to hide his pink cheeks. "That, well… it sounds a little odd, when you think about it, but I really do appreciate the humanness you apply to me. I don't know how much of yourself you're supposed to divulge on a coffee outing, but I guess I'm not one for convention, anyway. You know I'm blind."

"I did not see that coming," Aomine said sarcastically, using the bluenette's own joke.

Kuroko smiled. "That's good. But, honestly, I am blind. Nothing to be ashamed of there. But…"

The way the tone of voice shifted had Aomine very curious. He rapped on the table with his knuckles. "But what?"

Kuroko sighed heavily and shrugged. "People treat me differently because of it, you know? I mean, yeah, I can't see, but that doesn't mean I'm broken. I do still hear, and I hear what the people say. Behaving weird around me, like I'm some odd subspecies, and not knowing how to approach me. I can't see. But I am a human. And you treated me just the way I wanted to be treated: like a person, not like a fragile little doll with a defect."

Aomine was taken aback. Kuroko had been emotionless this whole time; to hear him suddenly speak with a darkness over how the people in school treated him was a shock. Aomine had no idea the bluenette had any other emotion besides this.

"So… you wanted to be friends with me… because I'm not a douchebag?" Aomine asked carefully.

"You say that like you still can't believe it, but I think not being a douchebag is one of the best reasons to want to be friends with someone. Why would anyone want to be friends with a douchebag?"

Aomine let out a dry chuckle. "Trust me, I know plenty of people who would tell you otherwise, that I am a colossal douche."

"Those people would be wrong."

"You have such confidence in me."

"Someone has to."

Aomine frowned and crossed his arms. "I have plenty of self-confidence, thank you very much. I don't need your charity."

"I never said it was charity."

When the dark teen refused to speak again, Kuroko took another sip of tea and changed the subject. "I think the color blind people see is less black and more of a greyish color. It's sort of a lighter shade than black."

Aomine stared at Kuroko in confusion. "And how the fuck would you know different colors?"

"I wasn't born blind, Aomine-kun."

That embarrassed the dark teen; he was glad Kuroko couldn't see the color on his cheeks. "Oh. Well, when did you go blind?"

"I was seven," Kuroko said, running the pad of his finger over the rim of his cup again. "So I have a solid handle on things, I just can't see them. No one has ever had to describe colors to me or tell me about shapes. I get it. It makes things so much easier."

"Don't you miss seeing?"

Kuroko shrugged. "Sometimes. I want to be able to look at my family a lot. I miss my brother's smile. His smile was lovely, even when we were little. Gummy, and it turned his eyes into little slits. It always made me happy. I imagine it sometimes, and it cheers me up."

Aomine waited for Kuroko to keep going, and when he did, it was not what he expected to hear. "It's kind of my brother's fault that I became blind."

After the dark teen stopped choking on his coffee, he responded. "He made you blind?"

Kuroko shrugged. "Mostly. He didn't do it on purpose, I assure you. He's about four years older than me. When I was seven and he was eleven, we were bored at home, and we were getting into trouble. We got this little metal bowl and put a few batteries in it, then set them on fire to see what would happen. One of the batteries wasn't lit, so I crouched down to light it just as the rest were exploding."

Aomine grimaced heavily and tried not to rub his own eyes at the thought. "So, your brother made it happen?"

"Well, he told me, that it was impossible for them to explode. But they did, and I went blind. I have a few faint scars on my forehead and around my eyes from the blast, a little scar here on my chin. They're mostly on my arms, though. I threw my hands up, but they didn't get to my eyes in time. I remember everything hurt and Hiro was calling for my mother. The next thing I remember, I'm in the hospital with bandages on my eyes with the doctor telling my parents there was nothing they could do to save my eyesight."

Kuroko drained his tea, set the cup back down, then smiled at Aomine. "Enough about that. Describe yourself to me."

Aomine's eyes went wide. "How did you just—"

"Come on, Aomine-kun, Describe yourself. What do you look like?"

"Um," Aomine said uncertainly, unsure as to how to describe himself. "Well. I have dark blue hair, a little dark skin."

"Uh-huh," The bluenette said, looking strangely interested. "Keep going."

Aomine felt incredibly awkward describing how he looked to Kuroko. He personally felt he was unremarkable, so he had no idea what to say. "My hair is parted on mu left side. I... often have a frown on my face, with my dark blue eyes slightly squinted. I am very tall and muscular."

"So, you play basketball?" Kuroko titled his head a little.

"Yeah, sort of."

"Anything else?" Kuroko asked, his hands folded in front of him.

Aomine shrugged. "Yeah."

Kuroko nodded, then smiled. "I think I have a good picture of you in my head now."

Aomine did not describe himself further. He had to contribute little to the conversation after that; the bluenette prattled on and on about this and that and what he liked and what he didn't like and how his brother picked out all his sunglasses and everything and nothing in particular. It was when Kuroko got very in-depth with his brother that Aomine spoke up.

"I have an older brother, too."

Kuroko's smile was impossibly large. "You do? That's so wonderful! What's he like?"

Aomine shrugged. "He's great, honestly. The super big brother. He's caring, totally focused, and always took the blame when we got in trouble. He goes to college in Seoul."

"Sounds like a good guy. I'd love to meet him."

"I can't wait until he's home for the summer. I write to him some but I guess he's too busy to write back. But they're not really letters anyone can respond to. They're more, like… blog entries on a piece of paper."

Kuroko chuckled. "I'm sure he has them all saved up and is just waiting to talk to you in person about everything."

"That sounds exactly like what he'd do."

"You wouldn't happen to know the time, would you?" Kuroko suddenly asked.

The dark teen looked at his watch and relayed the time. Kuroko grimaced.

"I hate to interrupt the meetings like this, but mom expects me home soon. She worries, you know. Would you mind walking me to my house? I don't live far, I think."

Aomine agreed, the least he could do after the bluenette paid for his coffee, and they left the coffee shop, Aomine navigating after Kuroko told him where he lived. Not five minutes from the coffee shop, Kuroko spoke again.

"So, uh, Aomine-kun, I know you don't like the way my cane taps."

Aomine flushed red. "I guess I can tolerate it now."  
>"Well, I don't have to tap. But I'd have to hold onto you somehow. Would you mind that at all?"<p>

Aomine gave it some thought, then reached down and took Kuroko's hand, bringing it so he could hold onto the strap of his backpack. "Keep up."

"I'll do my best," Kuroko said happily, holding onto the dark teen's backpack strap with an iron grip.

Aomine deposited Kuroko safely at his house and he trudged home, steadily kicking a rock down the sidewalk. He avoided his parents' questions inside his house and locked himself in his room, deciding he needed to keep to himself for a while.

As he halfheartedly worked on his homework and doodled in the margins of his book, he came to the conclusion that the day had been a little better than just tolerable. He'd actually enjoyed talking to Kuroko. He had expected to tolerate the situation, but he'd found himself actually liking the conversation they'd had.

Perhaps having a new friend wouldn't be so bad.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Eye of the Beholder

Anime: Kuroko no Basuke/Kuroko's Basketball

Pairing: Aomine/Kuroko.

Warnings: Language and Violence.

* * *

><p>Dinner was always a quiet affair. Aomine never had anything to say and his parents didn't speak. It made the whole ordeal a little more than uncomfortable, but Aomine was used to it. Any sort of conversation usually ended up making the atmosphere even more awkward than it already was, so they avoided the whole situation. But the dark teen had a pressing question, and decided it was something that would not make the atmosphere worse.<p>

"I wrote Ryo another letter today," he said almost shyly, picking at his bowl of rice. "Would one of you mind putting a stamp on it for me?"

Aomine's parents simultaneously froze. They shared a long look, then his mother cleared her throat.

"Of course, sweetheart, I'll do that tomorrow when I go to work. Just leave it in my purse."

Aomine looked between his parents. "So, when is Ryo coming home? Is he going to stay over winter break?"

"I, ah… I think so, yes."

"He's so busy studying, you know, and trips back and forth can get so expensive, it's best he just stays at college and only come home on summer breaks."

With his glass of water halfway to his mouth, Aomine paused. "Why doesn't Ryo ever write me back?" The dark teen loved how his older brother would apologize in every single thing and now he missed it.

His parents shared another long look. His father cleared his throat. "Well, we've told you, he wants to go through it all with you. You know he always liked talking to you face to face, which is why he doesn't call."

"Well, yeah," Aomine said softly, folding his hands in his lap. "But no contact at all, I just feel… I feel a little left out. Like he doesn't care anymore. He's gone to college and forgotten all about me."

"Now, sweetheart, you can't think that way. He doesn't talk to us, either. You know your brother, always wants to make things super special. Imagine how exciting it's going to be when you do see him again!"

Aomine shrugged. "I wish I could talk to him now."

"We do, too, son."

The tone of his father's voice made the dark teen leery. He looked at his hands, then looked back up at his parents. "Is… is there something you guys aren't telling me?"

The quickness of their reactions gave the dark teen an answer. His mother started laughing as if Aomine was being silly and his father looked a little pale. Aomine's mother propped her chin up on her hands and smiled a little too widely.

"Oh, sweetheart, don't be ridiculous! We wouldn't do that, whatever gave you that idea?"

"No reason," Aomine said quietly. "May I be excused?"

"You've hardly touched your food, sweetheart."

"I… I'm not really that hungry."

"Well, alright. But let me know if you get hungry later, alright?"

Aomine nodded and scooted away from the table, messing with his hair as he walked towards his room, the sound of his parents hushed whispering upsetting him even further.

-xxx-

"Murasakibara, am I crazy?"

Poking his head up from behind a desk like a gopher, Murasakibara looked over at his friend. "Well, that depends~ Why do you think you're going crazy?"

Aomine sighed as he lounged on the couch in the music room, staring up at the ceiling. "I just… I have a brother, right? I didn't imagine him? I actually have a brother named Ryo?"

Murasakibara cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. "Yes, that is a thing you have."

"So why do my parents act like he's my imaginary friend?"

"I… I couldn't tell you," Murasakibara said quickly, ducking under the desk again.

Aomine didn't press further, even though he desperately wanted to. He simply stayed quiet, waiting for Murasakibara to prepare the members of the Singing Club. As the people filed in and began warming up their voices, Aomine let his mind clear of all the clutter, focusing on nothing, but the background chatter of different voices singing together. He listened to the purple haired giant direct them, giving them cues and helping them go through their scales, playing a note on a piano to help give them the right sound. He asked them all what they were comfortable with, had everyone sing several different songs with different tone ranges so he could gauge where everyone was, and then arranged everyone based on their voices.

When the hour-long session had come to a close, Murasakibara gave everyone their "homework" of finding a song they weren't comfortable with and trying out the vocal range anyway, then coming back and showing him so he could work on them with it. They all thanked him and said their goodbyes and shuffled away. Aomine hadn't yet opened his eyes; he was waiting for Murasakibara to tell him to wake up.

And since Murasakibara still had someone left, it didn't seem like it was going to be any time soon.

"Okay, so you're going to stick here for a little bit because you've got this strength in your voice I didn't think anyone besides me had."

Aomine snorted at Murasakibara shamelessly blowing his own horn.

"So, I'm going to play a little bit of a song on the piano and you tell me if you know it, and if you do, we'll go through it."

"I really don't think my voice is as good as you say it is."

Aomine perked up and looked over at the stage. Murasakibara as leaning against it while Kuoko stood on it, his hands clutching the microphone stand. The dark teen was suddenly very interested in what was going on.

"No, trust me. You have no confidence. But your voice is amazing~ Here, look, let me play you this bit and you can just sing it. And don't you dare hold back. Even if it turns out I'm wrong and you're absolute crap, this is a judgment free zone. Right, Mine-chin?"

Without a word, Aomine held up his thumb in the affirmative. There was a brief moment of silence before Murasakibara rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he totally agrees. He's just an idiot that doesn't use his words~"

Kuroko smiled. "I'm sure he just forgets, I don't mind."

Aomine tried not to smile. Kuroko somehow knew, that it was because Aomine did forget the bluenette was blind, because it was a trivial matter in his mind. He lounged back on the couch and closed his eyes again, hoping to just listen.

"Alright, so, Kuro-chin, here, do you know this song?" Murasakibara asked, playing a few chords on the piano. Kuroko nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, I do. My mother loves the song."

Murasakibara clapped. "Wonderful! Okay, so just, listen for your cue, and come in when you need to! I have faith, just sing like you do in the group."

After a moment's silence, in which Aomine knew Murasakibara cracked his knuckles before playing, the sound of piano music floated through the air. The music went on for a while before Kuroko began actually singing. Aomine liked Kuroko's voice; it was soft and sweet and comforting. The bluenette would have never called it spectacular, but it held a sort of nice tone that put Kuroko slightly above the others. He was good, but not amazing.

Aomine knew the song Kuroko was singing; it had been popular some years before and his own mother liked it. Kuroko had a good handle on the song, but could use a little more work. That was, until, the bluenette approached the high notes, and Aomine was worried, that Kuroko wouldn't be able to hit any of them. But it was like Kuroko had traded voices with someone. The high notes came and Kuroko's timid voice suddenly became powerful and demanding, his voice pulsing with vibrato as he held the notes and sang to the nearly empty room, Murasakibara steadily playing the piano. Aomine sat upright and stared at him, his eyes wide as he watched the skinny blind boy sing with a power he hadn't realized he possessed.

One last high note came and went and Kuroko ended the song softly, like he was supposed to, and stood there for a moment before blushing and clearing his throat.

"Yeah," he said lamely, covering his mouth shyly.

Aomine stared in awe as Murasakibara stood up from the piano. "Excellent! You seem a bit timid at first. Your beginning is very weak and needs a lot of work. But you release a lot of inhibitions when you hit the high notes. I want you to release the same kind of inhibition during the rest of the song, okay? Keep your power at all times. Command the stage, don't let it command you."

"I think I can try that."

"Wonderful! I think that should be all for now, so, we're done!"

"Do you want to go get coffee?" Aomine blurted out, still sitting awkwardly on the couch.

Murasakibara looked at Kuroko, then back at the dark teen. "Are you talking to me or him?"

Aomine swallowed. "I… er… both?"

"We should go back to the coffee shop, I really liked it," Kuroko said, holding his hands behind his back.

"I could drive us there, save the walk," Murasakibara said, shrugging. "It sounds fun."

"How many feet is it to the edge of the stage from where I am facing?" Kuroko asked. Murasakibara looked at the stage.

"Ah, about five?"

"And is there anything in front of the stage?"

"Nope, just floor~"

Kuroko smiled and began walking forward. Murasakibara panicked and reached out to stop Kuroko.

"Hey, no, wait!"

Completely ignoring him, the bluenette bent his knees and hopped off the stage, his knees still bending to reduce the impact when he hit the ground. Murasakibara's jaw dropped, his hands still outstretched in front of him.

"How did you do that?"

"Magic," Kuroko said cheerfully, smiling from ear to ear.

"You could have hurt yourself! Are you crazy? What the hell? And you!" Murasakibara whirled around to point at Aomine. "Why didn't you do anything to make him stop?"

Aomine shrugged. "I don't know. He seemed to know what he was doing."

Murasakibara glared. Kuroko continued smiling as he carefully made his way over to his backpack.

"I say we head out to the coffee shop. Driving places with me does come with a few perks."

He groped around in his backpack for a few moments before pulling out a handicapped placeholder. Murasakibara cheered happily, throwing his hands up in the air.

Aomine had noticed, that spending more time with Murasakibara had been making him feel better. His temper was not so close to boiling and he seemed to be able to focus better. He still struggled, but it wasn't so much of a struggle. The boulder had been put on wheels, so he was pushing less of a weight. But, for every high, there was a low, and Aomine crashed faster than he could have imagined.

He was almost positive he wouldn't have hit so hard if the people causing his emotional instability weren't people he remembered having as friends. But he remembered, and it caused him to tip faster than anything else. The nitpicking rudeness his ex-friends gave to him was always upsetting, but there was a set of three boys that had turned absolutely vicious to Aomine once he had stopped being their friends. They didn't pick at him very often, but when they did, they were ruthless.

"Just leave me alone!" he said frantically, feeling trapped and panicked and upset. He felt a little like the Incredible Hulk; too much and he'd suddenly burst forth in anger, but with less green and less super strength. It was maddening, keeping hold of the person he tried to be while he was bombarded with cruelty.

"Come on, Aomine, weren't we friends?" one of the boys taunted, laughing. "Wouldn't you still like to hang out with us? Or are you too much of a pussy now?"

"Changed your look to resemble some skinny faggot, huh? Think looking more like an idol will make one of them love you? The life of a fan boy."

"Yeah, Aomine, what's with the eyeliner?" one of them added, grabbing Aomine's chin to look at the black smeared on his eyes. Aomine batted his hand away and felt all his carefully placed armor crumbling.

"Get away from me."

"Oh, shit, Aomine, you are going to cry? Come on, pussy, cry for us. You're obviously not man enough to play sports anymore, you're too afraid to get a little dirt on those shoes. Prissy bitch."

"How's it feel to go straight from the top to the bottom?"

"He definitely looks like a bottom to me. Come on, Aomine, you want to show us how you suck dick?"

Aomine clutched at his hair, hunching over and breathing heavily. Nothing they were saying was particularly hurtful; it was something very standard for a boy's locker room. But the comments were like lead on the fragile paper house of the dark teen's self esteem. They kept piling on the heavy words and everything Aomine held in regard buckled, leaving him feeling lower than low. His stomach felt sick and his eyes pricked with tears as they laughed and called him names.

"Stop…" he begged, their current words and the past words he'd heard and said to himself swirling around his brain like a swarm of angry hornets, stinging whatever they could and making his head throb.

"Come on, Aomine," one of them said, shoving Aomine against the wall.  
>"Aomine-kun? What's going on?"<p>

Panicked, Aomine looked over at the end of the hallway. Walking towards them, cane tapping against the tile, was Kuroko, sunglasses still on and approaching them. One of the boys started laughing.

"What's this, Aomine? Your boyfriend?"

"Tetsu, you need to leave."

Aomine felt the tap of the cane touch his shoe. Kuroko stopped walking and held his cane tightly. "You weren't in the music room, we were worried."

"Oh, this is that blind freak!" one of the boys laughed. "How fucking sad is that, Aomine! Got to have a blind fucker fight your battles for you? How pathetic is that?"

"I don't know who any of you are, but you need to stop, right now," Kuroko said firmly, not facing anyone, but Aomine.

"Didn't know you dated charity cases, Aomine. What's the appeal? Do you fuck him with that cane of his? Or maybe he's just your sex toy."

Aomine grit his teeth as the pounding in his head got worse and his temper started burning. Kuroko gripped his cane a little tighter.

"I will only say this politely one more time: you all need to stop right now."

One of the boys scoffed and reached out, snatching Kuroko's cane from his grasp. Startled, Kuroko looked around pointlessly, suddenly very lost. With a snort, another boy placed his hands on the bluenette's shoulders and shoved him down on the ground; Kuroko hit with a thud and showed a sense of strange fear on his face.

Aomine snapped. Furious and well past his limit, Aomine sprang forward and grabbed one of the boys by the lapels, and threw him into another boy; the two went sprawling on the floor, looking horribly irritated. The remaining boy jumped with the clear intent to get revenge on his friend's behalf, but Aomine was a step ahead, and wasted no time in clenching his fist and throwing it right at the boy's nose. He went down, his nose gushing blood, as the other two boys were getting up. Blinded with rage, Aomine grabbed the two boys by the hair and knocked their skulls together. They went down together again, this time completely out cold; the other boy was curled up in pain next to them. The whole thing took less than a minute.

With his temper still raging, Aomine was about to jump on the boys and hurt them even further before a shaky hand reached out and touched his arm. "Aomine-kun...?"

It was like a white light had been shined in his eyes and dazed him. Reality rushed back to the dark teen like a wave of cold water and he was suddenly shivering, his body trying to work out the adrenaline. He fell to his knees and grabbed Kuroko's face, looking him over.

"Tetsu? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"No, Aomine-kun, I'm fine, but, what… Aomine-kun, what did you do?"

It dawned on Aomine to actually evaluate the scene he'd created. Slowly, he looked over at the three boys, and the cold water went rushing through his veins as he looked at the unconscious and in pain boys in front of him. Panic replaced the anger in his system and he shakily stood up and began pacing, pulling his hair frantically.

"Tetsu, what did I do, what did I do… I don't know, I just did it, oh, my fucking God, I did this, look what I did, oh, God, oh, fuck, fucking shit, no, no, no!"

"Aomine-kun, please tell me what happened!"

Kuroko carefully got to his feet, one of his hands gently reaching out, trying to feel for Aomine. With the fight instinct drained, all Aomine could think was flight, so flight is what he went with. He picked up the bluenette's cane, grabbed his hand, and started pulling him down the hall, his feet moving quickly. Kuroko stumbled behind him, looking a little more than panicked.

"A-Aomine-kun, Aomine-kun, wait a minute!"

"Can't, we need to go, need to go now, come on, we have to leave!"

"Aomine-kun, I can't run!"

Kuroko smacked into Aomine as the dark teen stopped dead, suddenly remembering Kuroko's lack of sight and how nerve-wracking it must have been to not be able to see when he was going fairly fast. Trying to decide what to do next, Aomine went with his next instinct. He slapped Kuroko's cane into his hands, then turned around and placed Kuroko's hands on his shoulders.

"Hop on."

"On your back? Aomine-kun, are you okay?"

"You won't be too heavy, I promise. Just get on. I'll hold you. Just… hurry."

Still looking leery, Kuroko braced his hands and jumped forward. True to his word, Aomine held onto his legs, and the moment Kuroko had an arm around Aomine's shoulders, Aomine took off running, his feet taking him wherever they willed. All Aomine knew was, that he had to get out of there quickly, before anyone saw what he'd done, or how he'd let his temper get the better of him.

After what felt like an eternity of running, Aomine slowed to a halt and let Kuroko get off. His legs burned, and he was physically and emotionally exhausted. The bluenette stood in front of him, his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes forever hidden by his black lenses.

"What happened?"

Aomine shook his head. "I don't know. You were there and then they pushed you down and seeing them be cruel to you, I just… I felt like I needed to destroy them for hurting you."

"I'm not hurt, Aomine-kun."

"That's not the point," Aomine snapped, grimacing the moment he said it. "They wanted to hurt you. And I wanted to hurt them before they laid another hand on you."

There was a long pause as Aomine finally caught his breath. Like an eerie presence, Kuroko stayed completely still, thinking. When the dark teen felt a pit of shame growing in his stomach, Kuroko hummed.

"I can't seem to make sense of it."

"What?"

Kuroko shrugged. "You seemed to hate me, at first. It's been something close to three weeks since I've asked friendship of you. And now, you're hurting people on my behalf."

"So?"

"I'm just baffled by your intense change of heart. What did I do to make you like me so much?"

Aomine was caught off guard. He hadn't thought about why Kuroko had suddenly meant so much. He just knew that he did and he needed to protect him, by any means necessary. When Kuroko received no answer, he shrugged again and tilted his head, as if looking around.

"Well, I can safely assume we're not at school anymore. Where are we, exactly?"

Aomine looked up at the building where he'd stopped, the safe haven he knew to be always accessible. "A friend's place. Would you like to go in?"

"I'd love to, if it is not a problem."

-xxx-

"What's this? You're coming to see me and you didn't ask me to get any ink ready beforehand?" Kise asked smartly upon answering his front door.

"Special circumstances," Aomine said, hands in his pockets. "Could we come in?"

"That depends, who is this 'we'?" Kise said, looking beyond Aomine's shoulder. He grinned upon seeing Kuroko. "Who's this little cutie?"

Kuroko blushed. Aomine smirked. "A friend. His name is Tetsu."

Kise raised his eyebrows, and the dark teen sighed. "Kuroko Tetsuya."

"Well, any friend of Aominecchi has horrible taste, myself included. But come on in, anyway."

Kise stepped aside and let them both in. Aomine paused just inside the doorway, turning back to look at Kuroko. "There's a step up, about four inches."

Kuroko nodded and carefully felt for it before stepping into the apartment. Kise gave the bluenette a once-over, then shut the door behind him. "Here, Kurokocchi, unless you need it with you always, we can keep your cane by the door so it's out of your way."

Aomine looked surprised at how Kise would start calling a person, he had just met with the name ending with 'cchi' already. That meant, the blonde respected Kuroko already.

"Uh yes, Thank you," Kuroko said, holding his cane out. Kise took it and set it by the door, leading the two (Kuroko sticking very close to Aomine) into the living area. Lounged on a refurbished chaise lounge with a fashion magazine in his hands was a very skinny guy with black hair and sharply defined features. Kise walked over and sat on the lounge by his waist, pushing down the magazine.

"Kasamatsu, we have guests."

The man looked up and smiled. "So we do. Always good to see you, Aomine."

"Hey."

"And who's this new face?"

Kuroko bowed. "Hello. I'm Kuroko Tetsuya, Aomine-kun's friend. Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kuroko. What brings you both here?"

"Ah…" Aomine said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Kise clicked his tongue and rested his chin on his hand.

"Do you ever come and see me just to see me?"

"Apparently not."

Kise sighed. "Ah, well, the pains of friendship. Come on, let's chat."

"I don't want to leave Tetsu by himself."

Kasamatsu set his magazine aside. "I think I have a solution to that. Kuroko, you could absolutely do with a haircut, no offense intended."

"None taken, I assure you."

"Would you mind horribly if I cut your hair? I'm a licensed beautician, I swear."

Kise nodded enthusiastically. "He really is. Cuts mine and Aominecchi's hair. And we look fabulous, just so you know."

"Well, you do. More than me, it's a fact." Aomine said, wrinkling his nose.

Kuroko shrugged. "I don't see why not. As long as it's nothing too extreme, I don't want my mother to faint."

"I would never dream of it," Kasamatsu said earnestly. He walked over and held his hand out. "Take my hand, and I'll make you look amazing, I mean I will just cut some extra hair, it won't even change you style."

Kuroko reached out and groped around the air for a moment. His cheeks turned pink when he finally found the guy's hand. With a smile, the guy led him away past Kise and Aomine; Kise lightly smacked Kasamatsu's ass when he walked by, then looked at his friend.

"Go sit, Aominecchi. Let's talk a little bit."

Aomine told Kise everything, that had happened without the slightest hesitation, putting in as much detail about what state he'd been in as possible. Kise listened attentively and made no comments; he lay sprawled out on the chaise lounge, taking in his friend's words and letting Aomine get it all out. When Aomine finally let out a long sigh and finished, Kise spoke.

"You did all that. You snapped and lost it and beat people."

Aomine looked down at his feet. "You make it sounds so awful."

"I don't mean to, I promise. But, Aominecchi, did you not hear what you said? You weren't going to physically hurt them, then they turned on Kurokocchi, and you went full-out Hulk Smash on these guys. You didn't do it for you."

"That was just what tipped me, though. It had been building as they picked at me."

Kise rolled his eyes. "Aominecchi, why do you have such a problem admitting, that Kurokocchi means a lot to you?"

"I don't know what you mean. Tetsu is my friend, and I care about him. I'm admitting that."

Kise rolled his eyes again, adding in a massive sigh that seemed to deflate him for a moment. "I am not talking about friendship."

"You're out of your mind." Aomine crossed his arms angrily, then grimaced. "I feel horrible, when I lose my temper around him."

Kise sat up and looked directly at the dark teen. "You know, Aominecchi, it wouldn't hurt for you to tell him why you have that temper."

"No," Aomine said firmly. "I'm not telling him."

"Aominecchi, what are you afraid of? What do you think will happen if you tell him?"

"I just—"

Kise stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Do you have that little faith in him that you think he'd judge you for what happened?"

Aomine was quiet. Kise sighed and sat next to his friend. "What's really the matter with telling him?"

"I just… you've heard what everyone says. Everyone wants back who I was. What if he…"

"What if he decides that he likes the idea of the old you better and stops hanging out with you, or does what your parents do and try to pressure you to become that old person?"

Almost imperceptibly, Aomine nodded. With a pout, Kise slung an arm around the dark teen's shoulders in an effort to comfort him. "Aominecchi, what do you remember about how you used to be?"

"I was sporty. And I had a lot of friends."

"And do you remember, that you were also a pretty awesome guy?"

"People won't let me forget, it seems."

Kise leaned his head on Aomine's shoulder. "Do you remember how you protected me from those awful boys after I accidentally broke a girl's heart and she outed me? Do you remember how you told everyone that if anyone hurt me, they'd have to go through you?"

"Yes, I do."

"You didn't even really know me that well. I had class with you, but we were outside each other's circles. But you protected me, stood up for me, gave me hope that being who I was not going to get me killed. You defied all those around you and stood on the side of a poor little artsy gay boy who had barely had a proper conversation with you."

"Is any of this supposed to make me feel better? That person is gone, Kise."

"Yes, he is. But he's also been improved on."

With a confused look, Aomine turned to look at the blonde. "I don't understand."

Kise smiled. "Old Aominecchi protected me because he couldn't stand to see anyone getting hurt for being themselves, and used his influence to persuade everyone to leave me alone. New Aominecchi cared about me as a person and encouraged my passions. New Aominecchi came to me seeking the same hope Old Aominecchi had given me, and I readily gave it, because New Aominecchi was not doing anything to be valiant. Aominecchi, I have never had anyone care about me and my wellbeing so desperately until you changed. You use me as a free therapist and think I only use you as a canvas but that's not it at all. I see someone I've forged a deep bond with, someone I am more than proud to call family. You, the person who saved up his allowance for months to help me buy an actual tattooing set. You, the person who encouraged me to begin an apprenticeship with a tattoo artist because I was always drawing on my own skin. You, the person who forced me to go and talk to Hatsuro in the coffee shop. You, the person who has praised and encouraged me and allowed me to practice my tattooing on your skin, and even lied to me about how good my skills are when we both know they're nowhere near excellent yet."

Aomine stayed completely silent as Kise spoke. He didn't know what he could say. Kise barreled on, his voice getting a little higher. "I'd been learning from a family friend since I was fourteen about how tattooing works, and have practiced under his supervision on the practice skins that people can use. But I never had confidence that I could do this, I resigned myself to being an artist in my spare time, because it was expected. And you forced me out, you forced me to look beyond my own insecurity, to step out and ask that family friend for a full-time apprenticeship. You did that, Aominecchi. Not the Old you. New Aominecchi. New Aominecchi gave a shit about me as a person. And you heaping your problems on me because you have actual problems? I can deal with that. Because you've done so much for me. I could never repay you fully for the things you've done for me."

Aomine had never been weak or anything, but now he could feel his cheeks getting wet, Kise chuckled, wiping his face off, "Stop blabbering, you dumbass."

"Kise, I just… I don't know. Fuck."

Kise hugged Aomine tightly, leaning against his shoulder and smiling. "Don't think too hard on it. Sure, Old Aominecchi was a pretty cool guy. But New Aominecchi is a fantastic fucker. And Kurokocchi would be a complete fool to want him gone."

Aomine turned and hugged Kise fully, sniffling. "You're an asshole for making me cry."

"And it makes me so happy that you think that."

They relaxed and let the atmosphere become less tense. Kise went back to sprawling on the chaise lounge and Aomine kicked his feet up on the coffee table as they discussed this and that and trying not to get too deep again. They had been composed for ten minutes when Kasamatsu came into the living room excitedly, pulling a very bashful Kuroko behind him.

"Friends, I present to you, the new Kuroko!"

Kise squealed and started clapping.

It really wasn't that different from the previous one, but it still looked a little different and better. There seemed to be a huge amount of extra hair.

"It looks wonderful!" Kise said happily, smiling. "Look, your whole face looks brighter!"

"I told him I obviously could not style it the way he did and he told me all I had to do was slather pomade on my hands and pull pieces up. What do you think, Aomine?"

With a nod, Aomine gave his approval. "I really, really like it. Intensely like it."

"Babe, you did such a wonderful job cutting it," Kise said, resting his chin on his hands and looking dreamily at Kasamatsu. It took him all of three nanoseconds to realize that they hadn't told Kuroko, that they were dating, and he suddenly became very nervous. "Ah… I mean…"

"Did you just call Kasamatsu-san, 'babe?'" Kuroko asked curiously.

"I… well… yes."

Kasamatsu looked down at Kuroko and waited. After a moment, the bluenette shrugged. "Well, you know what they say."

"What do they say?" Kise asked apprehensively.

Kuroko's face split into a huge smile. "Love is blind!"

"Oh, my God," Aomine groaned, unable to hold back his snort as he slapped his forehead and dragged his hand down his face.

He and Kuroko stayed with Kise and Kasamatsu a little longer, shooting the breeze and doing nothing in particular. It was only until Kuroko noted, that he should probably head home so his mother wouldn't worry that he was out. Kise and Kasamatsu both told him he was welcome any time he wanted to come over and he thanked them profusely for their hospitality.

As Aomine walked Kuroko home, Kuroko tapping his cane lightly, he couldn't help but notice how much the bluenette was touching his hair with his free hand. "Do you like it?"

"I don't exactly have an opinion on it one way or another," Kuroko said. "I don't know what it looks like, but it certainly feels very soft. It's been quite a while since I had a haircut, as you can imagine."

"I think it suits you. You don't get to hide with that hair anymore."

Kuroko looked bashful. "I'm glad you like it. Aomine-kun, would you like to come to dinner tomorrow?"

Aomine stopped walking. Kuroko walked two more steps before stopping himself. "Aomine-kun?"

"Dinner? At your house?"

"I'm sorry if that seems a little odd to ask, but I think my family would like you and I'd like for you to meet them. You'll love my brother, you really will. And my mother is an excellent cook."

"So… tomorrow, you want me to come eat dinner with you and your family."

"It would mean a lot to me if you came."

Aomine was apprehensive. For why, he had no idea. But the thought of entering into Kuroko's house and meeting his family made him nervous. Were they that close, that it was time to go to their parents and say 'look, I made a friend?' Aomine was almost about to decline when the bluenette suddenly tapped his cane on the ground like one would tap their pencil on a desk.

"I mean… I completely understand if you had something else going on. You could have other plans, and it's not really that huge of a deal, you don't have to. It's really not that important."

For whatever reason, Aomine didn't like the idea, that Kuroko thought he had something more important to do. So Aomine walked to stand next to the bluenette and elbowed him gently. "Sure, I'll come with you after school and we'll have dinner at your house."

Kuroko lit up like a bonfire.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Eye of the Beholder

Anime: Kuroko no Basuke/Kuroko's Basketball

Pairing: Aomine/Kuroko

Warning: Language.

* * *

><p>Aomine was scared out of his mind, and he had no idea why. Having dinner at Kuroko's house was not a big deal. He'd had dinner at friends' houses plenty of times, and they were no big thing. But for some reason, being in the bluenette's house, around his family, seeing Kuroko in his own element, and trying to get his family to like him, that terrified him. But there was no rescinding his agreement, because they were there, standing in front of Kuroko's door while the bluenette fished out his keys.<p>

"My mom's making a feast, I hope you're hungry," Kuroko said happily, sliding the key into the door and opening it. They slid their shoes off and stepped into the house, Kuroko closing the door behind them.

"Feel free to leave your bag here by the door, it's where I leave mine," Kuroko said, turning away from Aomine and sliding off his sunglasses, reaching for a smaller pair that sat on a small table by the door. He obviously wore the smaller pair around the house for comfort. Setting his cane by the table, Kuroko gestured. "Here, it's not much of a tour I can give, but at least let me show you the gist of where things are."

Aomine followed Kuroko around the house, shocked by how easily the blueneette moved about. Outside, Kuroko moved timidly, in a calculated manner, somewhat like a cat stalking its prey, with no wasted or large movements. He carefully moved about in an attempt to not jostle or upset any made-up outside order. In his home, Kuroko walked around confidently, making his personal space area much bigger. He moved nimbly and without any worries. Aomine watched him curiously, entranced by how much freer Kuroko was in an environment he knew.

"So, this is our general living area. Chairs, couches, a bookshelf, TV, entertainment system. If you want to watch TV, let me know. Over here is a little den of sorts that has some video game stuff for my brother and friends and some musical instruments and a computer."

"Do you play any of the instruments?"

"Not really. Tap out a piano tune here and there, but I've lost the talent a little. I'm not interested in it anymore. Here, over here is a downstairs bathroom, very handy. And, over here—"

"Tetsuya!"

Both Aomine and Kuroko turned their attention towards where the voice had come from. A boy, older than the pair of high schoolers, came bounding up to them, his face split in a wide grin. He had simple orange hair with bright highlights upper and a white v-neck over black jeans. He stopped next to Kuroko and threw an arm around his shoulder.

"Don't be so secretive when you come home! Is this him?" the boy asked, still grinning.

"Yes, it is. Shigehiro-kun, this is my friend, Aomine-kun. Aomine-kun, this is Shigehiro-kun, my older brother."

Politely, Aomine bent into a small bow. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Shigehiro said cheerfully, ruffling the bluenette's hair. "Are we doing a tour? Mom stepped out quickly, needed to get something from the store. She should be back soon."

"We're okay, Shigehiro-kun, I promise," Kuroko said, ever polite and respectful.

"Well, then, just yell if you need me," Shigehiro said, letting Kuroko go. Kuroko gestured for Aomine to follow him; the bluenette had walked about two steps when Shigehiro was suddenly tense.

"Wait, Tetsuya!"

Kuroko froze solid. "What, what is it?"

Shigehiro rushed over and placed his hands on Kuroko's shoulders. "You were about to walk off the step."

Aomine tilted his head in confusion. Kuroko had had no trouble stepping up; did he often misjudge the distance when stepping down?

"Yes, thank you, Shigehiro-kun," Kuroko said, stepping down carefully from the higher level. Aomine noted that there was an uncharacteristic stiffness in his voice. It made the dark teen even more confused.

"Here, Tetsuya, I'd hate for anything to happen, and Aomine here probably doesn't need a tour of the whole house. Why don't you both just sit for a bit and we'll talk?"

Kuroko ran a hand through his hair, then looked in Shigehiro's general direction and smiled. "Alright. Would you mind handing me my book, Shigehiro-kun?"

Shigehiro nodded enthusiastically and ran to the bookshelf. Kuroko took the opportunity to step up onto the higher level and walk towards the couch, sitting down on it with ease. Aomine sat next to him, feeling a little awkward. Shigehiro came back over, a stern look on his face as he held a book in his hands.

"Come on, now, Tetsuya, please don't be reckless," Shigehiro said, setting the book on Kuroko's knees. Kuroko shrugged and opened the book.

"You know me. I like to live on the edge."

Kuroko's fingers began skating across the page, which Aomine realized was written in Braille. Kuroko seemed mostly himself and Shigehiro was very nice, but something about the atmosphere made Aomine feel horribly awkward. He couldn't place it; Shigehiro was accommodating and polite and Kuroko was his usual self. It might have something to do with the way the bluenette's back seemed a little too stiff. Aomine decided he was probably just nervous with how his family would act around him.

"So, Aomine, what do you know about my little brother?" Shigehiro asked.

Aomine blurted out the first thing that came into his head: "I know he's blind because of you."

His face turned bright red and he began hating himself as he looked down at his knees, embarrassed by himself. Shigehiro cleared his throat and Kuroko tried not to chuckle.

"I guess it is my fault. But, hey, who didn't do stupid things when we were younger? And I've long since paid for it, believe me."

"I didn't ask for you to pay for it that way," Kuroko said quietly, his fingers stilling on the page.

"Well, what did you expect me to do? Just leave you alone?"

"You didn't go to college because you felt like you needed to take care of me, Shigehiro-kun. Do you know how awful that makes me feel?"

"I chose what was more important to me, Tetsuya."

Aomine twiddled his thumbs, and when the bluenette didn't respond, Shigehiro turned his attention back towards Aomine. "So, Aomine, what do you like to do with your spare time?"

Trying not to get too involved in himself, Aomine stuck to very basic, very safe answers. He could practically feel the metal in his skin burning from the way Shigehiro stared at it, but Shigehiro did not bring up the body modifications, whether out of politeness or inability to find a way to approach it, Aomine didn't know. But they talked, and after half an hour, a thin, cheerful woman came in the front door, her hair held back into a loose bun.

"Oh, Tetsuya, sweetheart, I didn't know you'd be home yet! I'm so sorry I wasn't here to greet your friend," she said cheerfully, setting down her bag of groceries and walking over to the trio. Aomine immediately stood and bowed to her, remembering his manners.

"You must be the famous, Aomine-kun we've heard so much about."

That turned the dark teen's cheeks pink. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Kuroko."

"Well, Aomine, you are… a very interesting person."

Aomine nodded and sat back down; he'd heard that before. 'Interesting' was the polite way to say 'dude, what the fuck.' He'd heard it enough from family members and people his parents knew to not think it was a compliment. So he simply swept the comment out of his mind and shrank down, hurt by the subtle judgment.

"Well, then, Tetsuya, I just had to run out to get some more kimchi, I hadn't realized we were out. Everything else should be ready, I just need to set it all out. I should be done in ten minutes. Sit tight until then."

"Okay, Mom," Kuroko said dutifully, his fingers moving across the pages of his book again.

Kuroko's mother disappeared into the kitchen. They sat silently and awkwardly for a minute before Shigehiro cleared his throat.

"So, Aomine, do you have any plans for after high school?"

Aomine shook his head. "At this point, it's really just surviving high school. I'm not… I'm really not the best student, so I don't really enjoy school that much."

"That's a shame, really. I always enjoyed school."

"You should have gone on further," Kuroko said quietly. Shigehiro sighed and looked at his brother.

"Do you not want me here to take care of you? I stayed out of college so I could look after you and make sure you stay safe."

Kuroko's eyebrows furrowed. Aomine had never noticed before how expressive the bluenette was, unless he was smiling. His usual huge sunglasses blocked the view of his eyebrows, which seemed to do a lot of emotional portrayal. "Shigehiro, why do think you need to look after me? I'm not going to die, I promise."

"It would make me feel better to be around you," Shigehiro said, crossing his arms. "I worry about you, especially since you're blind. I could never live with myself if I had to leave you here alone, especially with Mom always busy and Dad always gone."

"Where is your dad?" Aomine interjected, sensing immediately, that Kuroko was getting frustrated, hoping the conversation would steer towards different waters.

"He's a pilot," Kuroko said, suddenly excited. "He flies all over the place. He was on a round-trip flight to Barcelona when he last called."

"He should be home soon," Shigehiro added. "He flies a few round-trips at a time, then comes home for a few days. His schedule is something like two weeks on, one week off."

"That sounds exciting," Aomine said, and suddenly both Shigehiro and Kuroko were lost in the stories of their father, the pilot, and all the things he'd seen and brought back for them. He learned, that Kuroko's mother had been a flight attendant, and that's how they'd met, and she retired so they could raise a family. Aomine became enthralled by their stories, of which they had quite a lot, especially since they'd been everywhere for vacations because of their father's job. They were discussing Germany when their mother came out and announced dinner was ready. And just like that, it was like a switch had been flipped and the bluenette's back went rigid again, as Shigehiro stood up immediately and went to Kuroko, grabbing one of his hands.

"Here, let's go."

"Shigehiro-kun, I'm perfectly capable," Kuroko said softly, more in exhaustion than irritation. But he let himself be led to a seat at the table and they all sat down together, a glass of water at each setting and everything looking delicious.

"All this food looks wonderful, Mrs. Kuroko," Aomine said sincerely, waiting until they started serving themselves to see how they did their evening meal.

"Why, aren't you polite?" she replied happily, grabbing a dish and spooning out a serving of the item onto the bluenette's plate. Kuroko sat still and let her; Aomine could see behind Kuroko's glasses that he had his eyes closed, as if exasperated.

"Help yourself, Aomine, we're not strict," Shigehiro said, and then it was a cacophony of passing dishes and discussions and questions. Aomine felt almost completely at ease, but the stiffness in Kuroko's back still kept him on edge.

"Here, sweetheart, you have a full plate," Kuroko's mother said, reaching for her utensils. Kuroko nodded and grabbed his own, clearing his throat before slowly grabbing something on his spoon and lifting it to his mouth.

"So, Aomine-kun, Tetsuya tells me that you're friends with his singing instructor."

Aomine took a sip of his water and nodded. "Murasakibara and I have been friends for a long time. He's… quite frankly, one of the few friends I have left."

Kuroko pushed his mother's hand away as she tried to place his napkin on his lap. "Oh? Do you not have many friends?"

"I guess not. But I'm okay with that. The ones I have are genuine, and I like them quite a lot."

Aomine glanced over at the bluenette, who was smiling. Kuroko's mother pressed on.

"I do hope you forgive me for asking, Aomine-kun, but what do your parents think of your various piercings? I know myself, personally, I might have a heart attack if either of my boys had them."

Aomine couldn't decide whether she was being playful or vaguely condescending. So he tried to keep as cordial as possible, though he was feeling a little pressure. "Well, my parents sort of gave up on telling me no. I'm kind of a free spirit."

"Just how free?"

Now the dark teen was feeling really pressured. "I, well… a good friend of mine is apprenticing to be a tattoo artist, so if he needs practice, I offer my skin up for practice."

The air became still. Aomine swallowed nervously as Shigehiro lifted his glass to his lips. "You have tattoos?"

"Yeah."

"You're a bit young to be making those kinds of decisions, don't you think? Tattoos are permanent, you know," Kuroko's mother added.

"Well, I figure if I hate it that much when I'm older, I can always get it removed. And I don't really see the difference on my age. I'm expected to pick out my whole life in high school, what I want to do, but I'm supposedly too immature for a tattoo? That seems a little warped to me."

The look on Kuroko's mother's face said she firmly disagreed and thought he was wrong, but she kept her opinions to herself, for which the dark teen was grateful. Their flippant dismissal of the things that he did to his body as odd or wrong was making his temper bubble, as if their words were slowly turning up the flame on a stove. Instead, Kuroko's mother turned her attention back to Kuroko, who had been eating quietly the whole time.

"Sweetheart, here," she said gently, raising her napkin and wiping his chin with it. Kuroko grimaced and jerked his head away from her.

"Mom, come on, just tell me I have something on my face. I'm not five."

"Oh, Tetsuya, humor me a little," she said, reaching for his face again. He raised his hand and pushed hers away.

"Mom, I'm trying to be nice. Please stop."

Kuroko's mother held her hands up, as if to signify she didn't think she was doing anything wrong, then turned back to her own plate. The rest of the meal went by rather stiffly, with little conversation from anyone, and when Aomine finished and thanked Kuroko's mother for the meal, the bluenette immediately threw down his utensils and stood up, grabbing Aomine's hand and pulling him along.

"I'm done, too, thanks Mom, we'll be in my room." he said quickly, his feet nimble and quick as he dragged Aomine out of the dining room.

"Careful, Tetsuya, be careful!" Kuroko's mother said quickly, reaching out as if to stop her youngest. Kuroko paid her no mind, only ran across the house and down a hallway to the bedrooms. Aomine would have sworn, that Kuroko was faking being blind, because he ran around as if he saw everything, and had no problem getting around. Once inside the bedroom, Kuroko closed the door and locked it, sighing heavily and walking over to his bed, falling onto it face-first.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice muffled by his pillow. After a moment, he turned over and lay on his back, tapping the end of the bed with his foot. Aomine sat down by his feet. "Mom and Shigehiro-kun are nice, they're just a bit… I don't know. Old fashioned."

"I have never seen you so tense. I've watched you jump off of a stage with more ease than you have in your own house. What gives with this whole place?" Aomine asked, tossing his bangs to the side.

Kuroko sighed again and sat up, rubbing his forehead. "I guess… Mom and Shigehiro-kun don't really seem to understand how well I can get around on my own. I'm still that awkward little kid who ran into things after I came home from the hospital, unable to gauge where I was or how to move. It's been almost ten years. I know my own house and I know how to get around and I can deal with this. But for some reason, they don't think so. They wanted to get me a seeing-eye dog, but I told them no. I'm perfectly capable without one, and I'm not about to take one from someone who needs one."

"That's noble," Aomine said, cracking his knuckles. "So… you seem to have a select problem with Shigehiro."

Kuroko ruffled his hair. "Shigehiro-kun thinks it's his responsibility to stay home and make sure I'm taken care of, apparently. He refuses to go to college until I'm out of school, then he will follow me wherever I go."

"That's ridiculous."

"It puts so much guilt on me. I didn't ask him to stay, I didn't want him to stay, and I feel horrible that he's not getting an education because of me."

"I don't think it's because of you," Aomine said, scooting closer to the bluenette. "It's his own fault for not seeing how capable you are."

Kuroko smiled. "I feel so relaxed around you. I can be myself so easily with you. You don't try and coddle me, and I appreciate it."

"I see no reason to coddle you, you are more than able to do things yourself."

"Please try and teach that to my family."

Aomine chuckled and traced the pattern on Kuroko's bedspread. Kuroko tapped his knees.

"I'm sorry for the way they talked about you. I said they're a bit old fashioned but they're judgmental without meaning to be. I have no problem with any body modifications you have, and you like them. So that's all that matters. Who cares what my smothering family thinks?"

Aomine chuckled and shook his head. "You don't even know what my tattoos look like. For all you know, you would hate them."

"I don't think I could ever hate anything about you."

Without any idea how to respond to that, the dark teen kept quiet. After a moment, Kuroko smiled. "Want to see my eyes?"

"I… guess? Is there something weird about them?"

"Besides the fact that they sit there and do nothing, sort of." Kuroko slid off his glasses and looked towards Aomine, his eyes closed. His eyelids and the surrounding area was covered in very faint scarring, remnants of the accident that had taken his sight. Slowly, Aomine opened his eyes. "Shigehiro-kun told me, that you can still see some of the color, but only barely."

Aomine stared at Kuroko's eyes. Kuroko's gaze was unfocused and distant as he stared at nothing. The sclera was mostly normal, if not a little bloodshot, but his pupils were completely hidden behind a mask of milky grey, with a ring of light blue around the edges, as if the milkiness had not yet traveled to the edge. Aomine felt as if he was being haunted suddenly, and it gave him the creeps. But he smiled and nudged the bluenette's knee.

"Fascinating. I thought eyes didn't turn grey unless you were born blind or had cataracts. What happened?"

"Chemical burns, what they told me," Kuroko said with a shrug. It was a bit disconcerting, that Kuroko was speaking directly to him but was not looking at him. "Screwed up my corneas so they're mostly blocked out. Fascinating, right?"

"I got to say, Tetsu, you're a fucking champ," Aomine said, shaking his head. "I think I'd have curled up and died if I went blind. I like seeing things."

"I'm too stubborn to let something like this stop me." Kuroko got up on his knees and scooted a little closer to Aomine, his eyes still dead forward. "Aomine-kun, forgive me if this seems a bit odd, but might I… feel your face?"

"Excuse me?"

Kuroko smiled awkwardly. "I can kind of get the gist of someone's looks by how their face feels. Sort of like facial topography. Might I piece together what you look like?"

Aomine tilted his head, thought about it, then shrugged and closed his eyes. "Mind the metal."

Kuroko smiled even wider and brought his hands up, placing them gently on the dark teen's face. The feeling sent an electric shock through Aomine's body; Kuroko's hands were soft and delicate as he moved them over Aomine's skin, gently touching and memorizing, his hands moving from cheeks to ears to forehead to neck. After a few sweeps, Kuroko hummed quizzically.

"What?" Aomine asked as Kuroko smoothed his thumbs across his cheekbones.

"I'm just a little puzzled. You once described yourself to me and told me about all of your features. But I can't find any of them."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't do yourself any justice, Aomine-kun. The way you described yourself was very plain, at best. And unkind. From what I can feel, you're…"

Aomine looked up at Kuroko as the bluenette's thumb came to a rest on his chin, just beneath his lower lip. "I'm what?"

"You're attractive, Aomine-kun."

Aomine flushed, embarrassed and in disbelief. Kuroko chuckled. "Your face is hot. Did I make you blush?"

"No," Aomine lied. Kuroko slid a finger down to his pulse.

"You're a liar, Aomine Daiki," Kuroko teased. "Admit it."

"No," Aomine lied again. He looked up and felt his face get even hotter when Kuroko started leaning down, getting much too close. Aomine's skin burned, and when the bluenette's was a hair's breadth away, Aomine turned his head shyly, letting Kuroko's lips fall on his cheek. Almost instantly, Kuroko pulled back, embarrassed by himself.

"I completely misread that, didn't I?" he asked quietly. "You… don't feel that at all. Oh, my God, I'm an idiot, I'm so sorry."

Aomine looked on sadly as Kuroko grabbed his sunglasses and placed them back over his eyes. Aomine realized they must have been like a pseudo-shield. He had no idea what to say, and the bluenette kept blathering.

"I feel like such an idiot, I can't believe I just did that. I should have known you wouldn't have wanted that, you probably aren't even— oh, oh no, please… please don't out me. I… haven't even really told my family yet, please keep this to yourself. Please."

"Tetsu—"

"I totally understand if you want to leave, I swear, I won't stop you, just please don't say anything. I'm begging you."

"Tetsu!" Aomine said a little louder, catching Kuroko by the shoulders. Behind the small sunglasses, Kuroko's eyebrows were stitched up, like he was about to cry. "I'm not going to out you. And I… I guess I'm not fully straight. Not anymore, anyway."

Kuroko snuffled. "Not anymore?"

Aomine sighed and searched for words. "I don't think I've ever liked anyone as much as I like you. And I mean that."

"Well, then," Kuroko said, looking a little confused. "Why don't you want to kiss me? Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"No, I just…" Aomine slumped his shoulders. "It's complicated. I like you a lot, but you… you shouldn't want to like me in that way."

"Why not?" Kuroko asked, suddenly very forceful. "Because you're different? Because you have piercings and tattoos and wear eyeliner?"

"No, it's just… fucking hell," The dark teen swore, running a hand through his hair. "You deserve so much better than me. You deserve who I used to be. Not who I am."

"I don't understand. Who you used to be? Who did you used to be? And why is that person better? Why is who you are not good enough?"

Aomine rubbed his eyes and sighed, unsure of how to begin. "It's a long story."

"We have all the time we want."

With a stone in his belly, Aomine thought about what to say, scared to death at the prospect of telling Kuroko. He knew, that the bluenette deserved the right to know, deserved to know everything about him and why he was the way he was, but something was holding him back, the fear of rejection too strong.

Kuroko reached over and placed a hand on the dark teen's knee. "Please, Aomine-kun. What's going on?"

"I was on the right track," Aomine started shakily. Kuroko scooted so he was cross-legged in front of Aomine, their knees touching. Aomine twiddled his thumbs as Kuroko paid strict attention. "I was the person everyone liked. Athletic, friendly, personable, I had excellent grades and excellent relationships with people. I was happy and cool and everyone liked me."

"But then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked?"

"Tetsu," Aomine said in exasperation, hiding his face. "Please don't make jokes."

"Sorry. Go on."

Aomine rubbed the back of his neck. "My brother had come home from college for spring break, just to come and see me. We spent all of our time together that week. And on his last weekend, he decided to take me out for a drive. Teach me how to drive a little, as older brothers do. My parents didn't want us to, but Ryo was persistent. So they caved and let us go."

Kuroko stayed completely still and completely silent. Slowly, Aomine went on with his story. "They shouldn't have let us. But my brother was charming and my parents melted for him. So he gave me the keys and he took me out driving. I was crossing a four-way stop without paying much attention; I pulled out in front of a delivery truck. They hit the front corner of the car and flipped us. I remember it getting really loud suddenly, and then it got really quiet, because I had woken up in a hospital room."

Kuroko said nothing. He quietly waited for Aomine to go on, silently letting the dark teen compose himself and gather his thoughts. When Aomine was ready, he continued on. "I thought I was fine, because nothing really hurt. I had some bruised ribs and my wrist was sprained but other than that, I felt good. But then, the doctor came in with my parents, and he told me as gently as he could that I had suffered a head injury.

I had no idea what he'd meant, because head injuries made people… you know… different. And I felt fine. I wasn't in a coma or anything, and my parents said I'd only been out three days, mostly from the morphine. But I'd hit my head, and they told me to be careful, and if I had any adverse symptoms to come straight back. I was discharged a few days later and was thinking, 'oh, they're crazy. I'm fine.' But I wasn't. I suddenly wasn't as coordinated as I was. I couldn't dunk in basketball to save my life. I remembering getting so angry because I couldn't dunk; angry like I'd never been in my life. I was livid. I began shouting at my parents. They were worried, obviously. Their laid-back son was suddenly losing his temper over a basketball. So they called the doctor and he had us come in right away."

Aomine sighed and rubbed a hand on his face. "His diagnosis was, that I had suffered a personality change due to a brain injury. I didn't think anything was wrong with me. I still felt the same. But as my parents described how angry I had gotten, and how I had changed. I suddenly started swearing, I had no tolerance for anything going wrong, I lost it at any sort of sign of stress, and I was just emotionally not who I was."

"So, basically, you hit your head in the car accident and it changed how you behaved."

"Yeah, basically." Aomine rubbed his face and sighed. "My parents had to sit down with the doctor and tell him exactly how I changed, what I was before and how I was now. I can't focus as well as I could, I cannot retain the same amount of information, I'm not as quick a learner as I used to be, I give in very easily to stress, I have a foul mouth, and my temper is out of control. And they told him all of this, distraught, devastated at how much I had changed. It was like they saw me as some cheap replacement son."

Kuroko reached out, as if to touch Aomine, then drew his hand back, unsure. Aomine shook his head. "I wouldn't mind so much. I didn't think anything was wrong with me, so what sort of change did I have to worry about? But I'm constantly reminded of how I changed. My parents push me to become the person I was, teachers expect the same level of work I used to put out, my friends turned away from me, I have no one. Well, no one I used to have, anyway, except for Murasakibara. I have the bad habit of shutting people out before they can get too close."

"Why do you do that?"

Aomine shrugged. "It's like… I feel that I need to reject people before they can reject me. It saves time."

"That's an awful philosophy to live by. But, I'm more than glad I persisted. There's no rejection here. I, personally, don't think I have any right to reject anyone." Kuroko paused. "Aomine-kun, what happened to your brother?"

"Ryo? Completely fine. Discharged before I even woke up and was back to school. But I haven't seen him since then."

Kuroko blinked. "Does he hold a grudge against you?"

"No, absolutely not! Ryo's just a very dedicated student. He started taking summer courses and stays at college over breaks because he has a job there. He's trying to graduate early, so he's not missing a moment in school."

"And he told you all this."

"Well, my parents did. Ryo is a bit funny with how he communicates. I write him letters all the time, he always preferred them over calling or texting for some reason, but he doesn't like writing back. He does this thing where he compiles all the letters, then we go over the important things together."

"He's done this before?"

"Oh, yeah. He's quirky like that."

Kuroko nodded. Aomine pursed his lips. "Don't think that my brother's abandoned me."

"I was thinking no such thing," Kuroko replied, pulling off his glasses again, taking off his shield. "I was merely wondering… could I try again?"

"You still want me?" Aomine asked, tilting his head.

"I see absolutely no reason not to. Am I misreading again?"

Subconsciously, the bluenette reached for his sunglasses. Aomine caught his hand and held it tight, leaning forward.

"Hold still."

Kuroko closed his eyes and held still, waiting patiently. Aomine swallowed nervously and leaned in a little further, pausing just short of the bluenette's lips, still second-guessing himself. When he held his pose, his heart beating wildly, Kuroko chuckled.

"I can feel the heat from you blushing," he teased, leaning forward the centimeter between them and pressing their lips together. The kiss was rather simple and almost childlike in its innocence, chaste and sweet. Kuroko pulled away, smiling.

"I felt your nose ring."

Kuroko blushed again. "I… I can put it up, so you can't."

"I didn't say I didn't like it." Kuroko licked his lips. "Can I kiss you again?"

Aomine wished he could have just nodded; words felt weird. But that would have left the bluenette wondering. "Yes, you can."

Kuroko leaned in, tilting his head a little this time. He pressed his lips to Aomine's but slightly missed the mark. He giggled apologetically and Aomine readjusted so their mouths were slotted against each other; the giggling stopped and this time, Aomine could feel the heat from Kuroko's face as he pressed forward a little harder, daring to open his mouth against the bluenette's. Kuroko's response was not only encouraging but unexpected; he pressed forward and threw his arms around Aomine's neck, almost crawling in the dark teen's lap. Aomine chuckled and placed a hand on Kuroko's waist to steady him. Kuroko's enthusiasm was charming: he had Aomine propped up on his elbows before they were shocked into stopping by someone knocking on the bluenette's door.

"You guys, if you want dessert, we have some ice cream!" Shigehiro said from the other side of the door. Flushed, Kuroko looked down at Aomine.

"We should probably—"

"We'll continue later," Aomine said, leaning up to press a peck onto Kuroko's lips.

Kuroko beamed.

-xxx-

They were understandably secretive. Aomine was disliked and Kuroko was a pariah, and the added bonus of seeing each other romantically would lead to a chorus of intolerable cruelty neither of them wanted to bear. So they stayed low, kept to themselves, and told only those they could absolutely trust. Kise and Kasamatsu, firstly, when Aomine called Kise and asked for a tattoo, and if he could bring his boyfriend, Kuroko along. Kise had screamed for a good minute before announcing haughtily, that he knew it and Kasamatsu owed him bet money. Kise gloated and fussed over the couple the entire time Aomine got tattooed (a kanji on the back of his neck, which the blonde said meant 'fire,' to match his fiery temper), and kept squealing whenever he looked at the bluenette holding Aomine's hands for support through the pain of a neck tattoo.

Murasakibara was next on the roster, and he was a bit confused at first, but accepted it, asking that they kept all kissy-faces around him at a minimum. Kuroko had snorted and Aomine had rolled his eyes at that. Murasakibara had Kuroko obnoxiously sing love songs, and Aomine gagged throughout every song. Murasakibara got a kick out of it, and kept it going, especially seemed Kuroko seemed more than giddy to participate in the torture.

They'd been secretly together for a few weeks before Kuroko asked to attend dinner at Aomine's house. Seeing it as only fair, Aomine brought him over for dinner. But knowing that it was fair did not mean that he wasn't as scared as he was when he went to the bluenette's house for the first time.

He notified his parents and his mother started planning the dinner, their enthusiasm that he had someone new in his life not masked in the slightest. He tried not to let it bother him that they kept hinting that maybe he was on his way back. He kept a straight face and presented Kuroko, who stood like a pillar of confidence in front of Aomine's parents.

"Mom, Dad, this is my friend, Tetsu," Aomine said, nodding.

Kuroko bowed deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Aomine."

"Aren't you sweet," Aomine's mother said, smiling. "Welcome to our home, Kuroko-kun."

"It's a pleasure to be here. I'm sure the way you've decorated is excellent," Kuroko joked, smiling.

Kuroko's parents looked between each other. Aomine rolled his eyes. "Tetsu's blind, he's making a joke."

"Oh! Oh, we knew that," Aomine's mother said hastily, trying not to seem rude. "Well, hopefully none of our things cause you to trip, I'd feel horrible. Daiki, you'll keep an eye on him?"

"He's actually pretty good at getting around by himself. One tour of the house and he'll get it."

"Oh, really?"

"I count how many steps things take," Kuroko said, shrugging. "Ten steps here, thirteen there, six here. It's wonderfully convenient."

"How convenient! That's a handy little trick," Aomine's father said. Aomine could hear the too-sweet tone of their voices; it was like they were speaking to a child who was presenting them a poorly drawn picture of a bunny.

"Well, boys, I made sure dinner was ready before you got here, should we eat?"

Kuroko turned and placed his hands on the dark teen's shoulders in a type of short Conga line. "Lead the way!"

Dinner turned out to be a horribly awkward affair. Aomine never felt comfortable eating with his parents, but now it was worse, with Kuroko there. His parents were trying far too hard to be sweet, and it was maddening, because Aomine knew it was fake. He could see the way his mother's eyes would follow the bluenette's food to his mouth, as if she expected him to fumble and make a mess and be hopelessly inept. He saw how his father seemed to try his hardest not to bring up Kuroko's blindness, awkwardly clearing his throat whenever he started a sentence with, "Did you see." Aomine could not wait for the meal to be over; his emotions had no idea what to do. He was angry over their tiptoeing around the bluenette's blindness, and he was hurt that they couldn't see how perfectly normal Kuroko was.

Finally, dinner was over, and Aomine helped clearing the dishes, offering to wash them just to have a mundane task to keep his mind on.

"This is a pleasant change, you haven't offered to wash dishes in ages," Aomine's mother said cheerfully, handing the dark teen the rag and an apron. "Glad to see that boy is bringing out something good in you."

"I'm still me, Mom," Aomine said irritably, filling the sink with soapy water. "Tetsu's changed nothing. Maybe I'm a bit happier. But I'm still the same."

Aomine's mother opened her mouth to argue, but Kuroko stuck his head into the kitchen before she could get a word in. "Sorry to interrupt, but might I talk with you, Mrs. Aomine?"

"I… well, yes, of course, dear," she said, a little confused. Aomine slid on the apron as his mother followed Kuroko out of the kitchen; he itched with curiosity as to what Kuroko wanted to talk to her about. The bluenette was too polite to point out how rudely they'd treated his blindness, and he would never think it was his place to discuss how they treated Aomine when he knew next to nothing about the entire situation. So, Aomine stood and stewed and got even more frustrated as no voices carried into the kitchen and left him at a loss as to what they were discussing.

Aomine was scrubbing the sink clean when Kuroko walked into the kitchen, hands behind his back. "Hey, you."

"Hey, yourself. What were you gabbing about in there?" Aomine asked, drying his hands off.

"Oh, nothing, I thought they just needed to get to know me better. Listen, I don't want you to think I didn't enjoy myself, because I absolutely did. But I think I need to go home."

Aomine's temper flared. "What did they say to you? I swear to God, if they fucking insulted you—"

"Aomine-kun, calm down," Kuroko softly laughed. "No, it's just getting a little late, and you've obviously met my family. Overprotective, remember?"

"Oh. Well, alright. Let me tell my parents I'm going to walk you home."

"They know already. You just need some shoes."

Aomine shrugged and they walked to the front door together, sliding on their shoes and leaving the dark teen's house. The walk to Kuroko's house was quiet, especially since the bluenette did not tap his cane; his hand was firmly locked with Aomine's, so he didn't see a need to use his cane. Aomine stopped them in front of Kuroko's house, and Kuroko quickly leaned up and pressed a kiss on Aomine's lips.

"I had a lovely evening."

"Really? Because I was frustrated all night long."

"Wow, I didn't think I looked that good."

Aomine snorted. "You're just full of jokes, aren't you?"

"I try to be." Kuroko kissed Aomine again, lingering a little longer this time. "Goodnight, Aomine-kun."

"'Night, Tetsu."

Kuroko walked up the steps to his house and let himself in, shutting the door slowly, letting Aomine see him smiling the whole time. With a grin, Aomine walked home, hoping that his parents would not ruin his good mood once he returned home.

-xxx-

Aomine was awoken the next day at an ungodly hour by his phone ringing. He answered it, still mostly asleep and groggy.

"Hello?"

"_Aomine-kun! Come over. I have some place I want to take you._"

_"Tetsu?"_ Aomine looked at his caller ID and tried to get a little happier when he saw it was Kuroko's name on the screen. "It's like… before eight on a Saturday. Why are you awake?"

"_I kind of didn't sleep, actually. Come on, come over, quickly! It's urgent._"

Aomine groaned and literally rolled out of bed, yawning widely. "Alright, I'm up. Where am I going?"

"_My house. Get here as quickly as you can, please._"

And without another word, Kuroko hung up. Annoyed, Aomine tossed his phone away from him, stretching and walking to his closet. He dressed hurriedly and brushed his teeth before leaving, walking out into the nice, late spring air. His walk to Kuroko's house was a bit longer than normal, because of how tired he was, but he got there eventually, and when he got there, he was surprised to see Kuroko sitting on his front steps, waiting anxiously. The dark teen yawned and Kuroko immediately stood, making a beeline for him.

"What are we doing so early?"

"Go towards the cemetery."

Aomine blinked. "Look, I may look kind of dark, but I don't actually like hanging out in the cemetery."

"I know you don't, but this is something I'd like to do. Please."

Aomine shrugged and linked hands with Kuroko, leading him down the streets to the cemetery in their town. They arrived in a timely fashion, if only because the bluenette was rushing Aomine. Outside the gate, Aomine clicked his tongue.

"Well, who are we here to see? Let's look it up in the registry."

"No, I already looked it up, I know where to go. From the gate, go right six rows."

Aomine led Kuroko into the cemetery, walking the six rows as he was instructed. When he got there, Kuroko stopped and stood still. "I, ah… when I was at your house, I talked to your parents. And I told them you had told me about the car accident, and I asked them why your brother had stopped contacting you, since you hold him in such high esteem."

"I've told you why. He wants to—"

"Please, Aomine-kun, let me finish." Kuroko sucked in a deep breath through his nose. "Well, they told me something, and they made me promise to keep it a secret. But I can't. I can't keep this from you. It makes me sick that they even kept it from you. And I… I think you deserve to know."

Aomine tilted his head to the side. Kuroko started walking forward, Aomine trailing behind curiously.

"Tell me when I've walked ten rows," he said. Aomine counted the headstones, then told Kuroko when. Kuroko stopped dead, then sighed.

"It's a bit silly of me, but I'd sort of hoped that it would have been raining. I always assumed that anything in a graveyard had to happen in the rain. A childish, cinematic dream, I guess. The sunshine will have to do, but I do think it's a little inappropriate. When we're over seven, tell me."

Kuroko turned right and began walking. Aomine counted seven and told him to stop. Kuroko did, then turned back to the dark teen.

"I just… I just want you to not hate me for this. And don't feel like you have to bottle up around me. I want you to let anything inside out, okay?"

"I guess I can do that, even though I have no idea what you mean."

Kuroko stepped aside. "Go three more headstones and look at the name."

Aomine's eyebrows furrowed, but he continued further down the line. Three headstones in, he stopped and looked down. And his blood turned to ice.

On the headstone at his feet, the words _Aomine Ryo_ were engraved into the grey granite, followed by his birthday and day of death: the day he and Aomine had gotten in the car accident.

Everything Aomine knew left his brain, even how to breathe. His lungs felt constricted as he tried to process what he was seeing, but nothing was working, his brain had flushed out all thoughts and replaced them with static and white noise.

"No…" Aomine breathed, and it was like the sky smashed down on top of the dark teen's head. He hit his knees and began crying heavily, sobbing loudly as he placed his hands on the headstone, hoping that pressing down on it would make a sign that declared 'Just kidding!' pop up out of the ground. "No, no, no! No, please, God, no."

Kuroko maintained his distance as Aomine cried, refusing to spoil Aomine's expression of love for his brother by trying to do the foolish thing by comforting him. Some things just needed to be let out, and Kuroko let the dark teen have that expression.

"Oh, God, why, please be a lie, please," Aomine sobbed, his tears clouding his vision as he bent over and pressed his forehead to the headstone, his body heaving with sharp breaths. "You're not here, you're at school, passing your classes and being the person everyone loves. This is some joke, some sick joke."

"It's not," Kuroko said softly. Aomine looked at the bluenette, his face covered in tears.  
>"How did you know? Why did you bring me here?"<p>

Kuroko sighed and walked forward. "I remember, a little more than a year ago, my brother talking about a local boy who had gotten in a car accident and died. I didn't remember his name, but when you told me your brother's name was Ryo-kun, it sounded familiar, so I looked into it. I was right, and I was a little shocked to hear you thought he was at school. So I asked your parents about it and they told me it was true, that your brother had died in the car accident that left you with a brain injury."

Aomine doubled over on himself, clutching his stomach like he was going to be sick. "Did he suffer?"

"The newspaper said he died on impact, so I would say he didn't."

"Why did they keep this from me? Oh, God, I've been writing Ryo letters, been writing him once a week, and he… oh, my God…"

Kuroko knelt down next to the dark teen, hoping to not get punched when he pulled Aomine into a tight embrace. Instead, Aomine latched tightly onto Kuroko, crying heavily into his shoulder, searching for any comfort the bluenette could offer him. All Kuroko could do was hold him tightly and pepper his hair with soft kisses, hoping the closeness would provide some comfort.

"Why did they lie to me, Tetsu?" Aomine asked pathetically. "Why did my parents let me live a lie?"

"Your mother told me it was something to do with guilt. They felt you had been through enough, with your own injuries, that they didn't want you to feel responsible, and were going to wait until you were ready to tell you." Kuroko rubbed Aomine's back. "She said she didn't want you feeling like you had to die to atone for your brother's death."

Aomine snuffled loudly and pulled out of Kuroko's embrace, his face a mask of self disgust. "My own parents thought I'd kill myself? Huh, of course they did. With the way they treat me, you think they'd have expected it."

"Aomine-kun…"

Aomine stood up, looking vaguely hysterical. "My own parents think I'm worthless. And they're right! I am worthless! Just a stupid, over emotional, crazy nothing! And to top it all off, I had the nerve to go and kill the good child, the perfect one that had a future. I had to be so selfish and take that away from him!"

"You can't possibly believe that to be true," Kuroko said fiercely, getting to his feet.

"What else am I supposed to believe, Tetsu? What in my life has proved to me that I'm anything other than worthless?"

"I have."

Aomine scoffed. Kuroko scowled. "No, Aomine-kun, it's true. You think so badly of yourself, but you don't seem to understand how amazing you are. How accepting you are of the faults of others. It's been so long since I've had someone in my life who hasn't treated me differently because of my blindness, but you were utterly indifferent to it. Kise-kun, you know, probably didn't have a friend in the world he could come out to, but you provided that, and you treated him exactly as he was, and you even went so far as to help him master his craft, because you are a good person!"

Aomine wanted to protest, but Kuroko left him no room to. "You see yourself in this horrible, dark light, cast onto you by those who can't see for themselves how wonderful you are, and you hold those negative opinions as truth above all else. But those of us who see you for how wonderful you really are, we try to shoo away the darkness, but you keep it close in this horrible little sad tent that you won't let anyone near. Kise-kun and Kasamatsu-san see how wonderful you are. Murasakibara-kun sees it. I see it. Why can't you? All I want from you is to finally see how wonderful you are. You've gone through so much in your life, things some people could never live through, and yet here you stand. You're cracked through, hurt from the words of others, but I'm begging you, Aomine-kun, see yourself for what you really are. The kind, sarcastic, emotional boy I've fallen in love with."

Aomine's eyes went wide. "Love?"

Kuroko sighed and slumped his shoulders. "That's not how I intended to tell you. But yes, Aomine-kun. I love you. So much more than I ever thought I would. I love you for everything you are. And you need to see yourself as this wonderful person we see you as."

Aomine inhaled sharply, unsure of himself. "I just… I can't believe it… there are so many things wrong with me…"

"There's nothing wrong with you from where I'm standing. I can't even see and I can see you better than you see yourself. And all I want to know is can you? Can you accept who you are? Can you look at yourself in the mirror and be happy with what you see? Can you finally accept who you are? Is that something you can do? For me? If nothing else, try and do it for me. Try and see the person I see."

Aomine stayed quiet. When he received no answer, Kuroko walked over and slung his arms around the dark teen's neck, pressing his forehead against Aomine's. After a moment, he pressed their mouths together in a lingering kiss, wiping away Aomine's tears when he done.

"I'll make you see it. If it's the last thing I do, I'll make you see it. I may not be able to make it happen right away, but it will happen. Maybe next week, maybe next year, maybe in twenty years. I'm not going to give up until you see yourself for the amazing person you are."

"I don't deserve you," Aomine murmured, looking at his feet.

"And that sort of thinking is the thing I'll change. If anything, I don't deserve you. But we'll work on it. One baby step at a time. Together, we'll work out everything you have a problem with, if you'll allow it."

"You are certainly welcome to try."

Kuroko chuckled. "Don't ever lose your sarcasm. So this marks the beginning, then, doesn't it?"

"What are we beginning?"

"We're beginning the journey to make the beauty see he's not a beast."

Aomine groaned. "Oh, I'm going to have to keep my sarcasm if you use lines like that."

Kuroko grinned broadly and kissed Aomine again, holding him tightly as the dark teen dealt with his current emotions. He had the inkling that was making Aomine see how wonderful he was not going to be an easy road to travel. But he knew every mile was going to be completely worth it. And he was willing to see it through to the end.


End file.
